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Theses and Dissertations

1994

The Mormons in Wilhelmie Germany, 1870-1914: Making a Place The Mormons in Wilhelmie Germany, 1870-1914: Making a Place

for an Unwanted American Religion in a Changing German Society for an Unwanted American Religion in a Changing German Society

Michael Mitchell Brigham Young University - Provo

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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Mitchell, Michael, "The Mormons in Wilhelmie Germany, 1870-1914: Making a Place for an Unwanted American Religion in a Changing German Society" (1994). Theses and Dissertations. 4946. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4946

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the mormons in wilhelmine germany 187019141870

making

1914

a place for an unwanted american religionin a changing german society

A thesispresented to the

department of historybrigham young university

in partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the degree

master of arts

by

michael mitchellapril 1994

this thesis by michael mitchell is accepted in itspresent form by the department of history of brigham young

university as satisfying the thesis requirement for the degree

of master of arts

rufdouglasdougas F tobler committee chair

wa i iw

rodney D bohac committee member

kei ah1hdate kendall W brown department chairman

11

sti

TABLE OF CONTENTS

chapter1 introduction 1

2 the german and mormon settings 12

3 the dangers of mormonism emigration polygamy and socialexperimentation

116

7 190419141904 prussian1914 intolerance and mormon persistence

174

bibliography 190

appendices

A 1853 prussian expulsion decree 203

B the evarts circular instructing american diplomats totake action against mormon missionary efforts in foreignlands 204

C gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin regierungsnen sidentsprasidentssilents report 207

D 1902 prussian expulsion decree 210

E newspaper clipping reporting mission president hughcannons opinion of the impact of the prussian expulsionorder 211

F consul bopps analysis and recommendations regarding themormons in germany 213

in

0 0 39

4 187118901871 growth1890 and interaction 0 D 0 0 0 0 D 71

5 189019021890 postmanifestopost1902 tensionsmanifesto 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 95

6 190219031902 evaluating1903 the mormon threat and confirmingthe banishment policy

0 0 0 & 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 144

8 conclusion

2 13

prasidentspresidents

introduction

the field of german religious history still contains

large areas requiring groundwork in order to build a complete

picture recently richard J evans a respected scholar ofgerman religious history noted that important issues in the

fields of nonorthodoxnon religionsorthodox have only now begun to be

addressed 1 this study which will focus on the relationshipbetween the prussian government and mormon missionary effortsin prussia between 1870 and 1914 intends to add a few threadsto the larger tapestry of german religious history with thehope that a more accurate portrait can emerge

the second half of the nineteenth century witnessed the

conflict of two vigorousvigo growingroust communities the new

imperial germany under prussian dominance and the church of

jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday or mormonscormonsMor mormonismmons had

officially come to germany in 1850 but opposition there was

ubiquitous and conversions few although the germans a

recently unified state of forty millions flexing their new

international muscle heldheid far more importance than the

latterdaylatter saintsday in world opinion and influence the conflict

richardichardtR J evans rethinking german history nineteenthcentury germany and the origins of the third reich londonalienallenailen and unwin 1987 125 128

germansa

muscleheld

1

2

did not resolve quickly or easily the challenge presented to

the germans especially to government officials by mormon

proselyting occurred in an arena of changing social and cul-

tural norms an area of unanticipated vulnerability for thegermans and one which more often than not elicited em-

otional rather than rational responses the treatment of

latterdaylatter saintday missionaries therefore by german officialsboth local and national provides an interesting case study

not only of a different kind of churchstatechurch relationshipstatebetween a powerful government and a small unwanted american

sect but of the complicated evolution of new social and

religious norms in the face of established politicalreligious and social traditions

in the wake of unification in 1871 germany experienced

tensions between attempts by the established political elitescrown church and landed and industrial aristocracy to

maintain the current forms of culture and government and the

efforts of rising forces the educated middle classes and theexpanding working classes to gain a voice in national and

local government earlier forms of cultural stability such

as the role of religion as a social cement and the power of

individual german states faced the necessity of adapting tothe new demands of the modernizing industrializing emergent

nation new ideas and methods especially in the sphere of

culture were perceived by those who defended the old order as

threats to the public weal and german unity and were treated

nationalprovides

forcestheclassesto

3

accordingly regardless of any actual danger if the per-

ceived threat came from outside the german cultural area itspresence was considered even less tolerable the insecuritybrought on by this internal turmoil was further enhanced by

the ongoing challenges of participation in the increasinglycompetitive economic and political international arena

in germany religion had long performed an important

social and public role influencingluencingluancing the education and behavior

of germans on a local level particularly in the case of theprotestant churches which had supported the secular govern-

ments since the reformation days of luther and melancthon

the fabric of the country had recently been torn by the battleof the kulturkampf wherein the powerful prussian state had

unsuccessfully challenged the patriotism of german catholicsthe role of the vatican and the power of the catholic church

externally the effort of the newlyestablishednewly nationestablished with

its emphasis on military power popular nationalist sentiments

and search for its place in the sun disturbed old balances

and allies including the united states of america

internally the rising strength of the social democratic

party the increasing power of agnostic liberal politiciansthe impact of theological intellectuals and the

transformation of the society from agrarian to industrial epi-

tomized the new challenges to the old ecclesiastical culture

it comes as no surprise therefore that the presence of new

religious movements particularly those from outside the

inf lueniuencing

4

accepted german tradition were deemed irritants and possiblymenaces by a state already concerned with an uncertainpolitical future and the desired unity of society

the activities and doctrines of church of jesus christ of

latterdaylatter saintsday the mormonscormonsMor anmons americanbornamerican faithborn viewed

by germans as yet another angloamericananglo sectamerican presented justsuch an irritation established as a new dispensation of

divine authority the church was intent on building a new

society and world rejecting traditional christian churches as

incomplete and apostate the mormon church from its beginning

in 1830 had long espoused a goal to preach its doctrines to

the entire world including the german people a nationalitynoted for its cultural and intellectual excellence and held inhigh esteem by early church leaders founded in a cultureknown internationally for its religious tolerance and diversreligious sects the church and its emissaries believed in theenlightened traditions of religious tolerance separation of

church and state and the legal protection promised by thegerman constitutions including the 1850 prussian constitu-tion instead of civility or acceptance mormon missionariesin germany frequently found themselves the target of dislikedistrust persecution and dismissal particularly by the localpolice and civil officials the various forms of thispolitical and legal treatment and the missionaries subsequent

responses to themthen avoidance of confrontation with local civilauthorities reliance on american diplomatic influence and

sectpresented

themavoidance

5

eventually laboring without visa until banished as well as

the outcome of the struggle forms the basis of this study inturn this inquiry will show that neither the german prima-rily prussian effort to enforce religious conformity and themormon demand for religious freedom according to their inter-pretation succeeded in altering the opinion or activities of

their opponent but as the mormons focussed less on confron-

tation and more on actual missionary work their membership ingermany continued to growgrov although the numbers were not

large until the 1914 outbreak of world war I1

consideration of this subject requires an understanding

of the prussian governmental position in regulating religious

affairs as well as the areas in which the latterdaylatter saintsday

came into conflict with the prussian government persecution

of mormon missionaries in prussia and elsewhere in germany

does not seem to have had the populist participation thatbritish scandinavian and swiss missionary efforts excited

the impetus to remove the mormons appears to have receivedsupport primarily from two elite coteries the clergy and the

educated bureaucrats from these roots persecution usuallydeveloped into a local police matter rather than a popular

religious rejectionAs the majority of the latterdaylatter saintday missionaries

working in germany possessed american citizenship they

represented more than just a small religious body they

embodied the pluralism of the american democratic culture

banishedas

growalthough

largeuntil

pretation

betrbear effendleffendyef fendl

6

thus a unilateral rejection of their mere presence despite

their attempts to comply with legal prescriptions and stillpursue their work presages a growth of intolerance toward

diversity within the german civilizationthe documentary evidence for this thesis has been drawn

from three main bodies of primary evidence prussian police

files on mormon activities the personal journals and mis-

sionary publications of the latterdaylatter saintday missionaries and

diplomaticdiplomat documents of the united states representatives ingermany

the police filesilesflieslleslies reflect the viewpoints of a majority of

the prussian officials as well as a few interviews with actualchurch members and accounts of mormon activities such as

baptisms and church meetings the main collection of police

files are the acta betrfeffendl die sektenseeten der mormonenmormonMor

vol

monennonen

1 185319031853 vol1903 2 190219141902 documents1914 concerning the

sectsthesects mormonscormonsMorthe collectedmons by the prussian ministry of

clerical and education affairs which include the main

banishment decrees the few consular reports and a mass of

interdepartmental memorandums 2 A second police filecollection acta die gesellschaftGesell derschaft mormonenMor betrfeffendlbetreffend1monen

18941933 documents concerning the association of themormonscormonsMor primarilymons concerns saxon experiences with the

aa2a microfilm of volume 1 is in the possession of drdouglas tobler while the four reels of volume 2 are in theLDS archives salt lake city the originals were found in themain government archive depository in merseburg germany

ic

f

6

1894 1933

3theathe

7

mormons and is richer in the period after 1914 other filesprimarily saxon copies of prussian originals are cited in thecourse of the text in addition to the police files the

study will examine relevant imperial german legislative filesand those legal codes civil and criminal which can be

acquired to determine part of the legal background

the prussian files are usually couched in official terms

and unless specifically instructed to provide analysis thevarious authors adhered closely to the facts these files do

present a few important problems first although the prus

sians preserved many of the relevant files internal evidence

indicates that several documents of value including a 1901

ambassadorial report on mormons did not remain in the filessecond the files do not really begin to record events untilthe 1880s and have significant lacunae particularly between

the years of 1905 and 1907 finally the reports from theprovinces never refer to or discuss the local influences foractions against mormonscormonsMor 3mons

in contrast to the official tones of the prussian filesmormon sources speak with a variety of voices the american

missionaries the church periodicals the manuscript historyof the german mission and the journal history the last two

sources are a compilation of private letters public newspaper

he life histories and newspaper articles frequentlyattribute most of the initial problems to interference fromthe local protestant clergy but this information neversurfaces in the police reports or the missionary diaries

ew

valueincludingmormonsdid

opinikopini0 ng

8

accounts and church periodical clippings speaking from the

latterdaylatter saintday perspective these narratives present a world

view where events often reflect the providential interactionof god with the world of human beings the most frequent

references to the interference of german clergy in missionary

work appear in these accounts however these assertions are

often hard to verify from available prussian sources mormon

sources have unique limitations as well deliberations of

high church leaders on missionary policy in the nineteenthcentury are not available for public perusal and a similarpolicy governs use of the private papers of most of the

churchs leadershipleadershipat at least for those which are stored in

the archives of the church of jesus christ of latterdaylattersaints

day

missionary journals tend to be brief sometimes to

the point of incoherence recording the mundane details of

life rather than opining on local events letters provide

more information as they frequently describe the missionarysworld but they are scarce and usually do not discuss mission

decisions and policiesthe missionary periodicals the millennial star and the

germanspeakinggerman derperspeaking stern have different editorial tones

the star loudly proclaimed its views with authority while thestern trod a more cautious path between religious enthusiasm

and an apparent effort not to disturb the various german

governments this could of course reflect the fact thatgermany and her states had stricter publication requirements

9

than did britain where the european mission published the

millennial starAs one might expect united states government sources do

not project the same feeling of a police state oversight which

radiate from the prussian documents and provide more exten-

sive explanations for decisions the two major collectionsused for this study are papers relating to foreign relationspublished annually and the diplomatic instructions and

diplomatic desratchesdespatchesdispatchesDes comprisingratchespatches the communications between

the state department and the embassies there is some overlap

between the two sources but enough documents are unique toeach collection to warrant the inclusion of both sources

regrettably I1 have not been able to locate the private papers

of some of the primary actors in the embassy during thisperiod the papers of ambassadors andrew dickson white

charlemagne tower and napoleon hill as well as charge

daffairesdaf embassyfaires secretary john B jackson might provide

enlightenment concerning their efforts to help the american

latterdaylatter saintsday in germany particularly in prussia

using these sources the study examines the prussianmormon relations in the following manner chapter one brieflyaddresses the background of both the german political and

religious settings the development of the church of jesus

christ of latterdaylatter saintsday and the initial mormon missionary

experiences in germany chapter two considers three issueswhich played a part in determining the attitude of the

10

prussian government emigration polygamy and the socialdemocratic movement chapter three begins a chronological

narration of the interactions covering the period from 1871-

1890 chapter four examines the manifesto of 1890 which

marked an overt change in the mormon practice of polygamy and

then traces subsequent events until 1902 chapter fiveinvestigates the attitudes of the prussian government and theprocess by which they determined to resolve the mormon

question 11 chapter six narrates the reaction of the mormon

missionaries and the subsequent impact of the prussian deci-

sion and its execution upon the missionary work from 1904

until the outbreak of world war I1

this study demonstrates that despite the relative insig-nificance of the mormons in prussian affairs and by

extension in the affairs of the german empire the attitudesand actions of the prussian officials who strove to resolve

the perceived mormon threat failed to take a fresh view of

personal freedoms including religious liberty advocating

instead a dismissive and potentially destructive course of

action the bureaucratic and often cavalier treatment of theprussian officials towards american mormon missionaries

reflects the inflexible prussian mindsetmindret towards personal

freedom and foreign religions and hints at a future when a

religious culture which differed from the accepted christiannorms could suffer more direct retributions

similarly mormon actions and protestations during this

nificance

I1

11

period also demonstrate the difficulties of adapting to the

political realities of a world which disdained mormon do-ctrines especially polygamy two goals of the latterdaylattersaint

day

leadership increasing church membership through foreign

converts and practicing polygamy profoundly disturbed theprussian civil and ecclesiastical authorities resulting in

active hostility and conflict between the mormons and theprussian government moreover the mormon decision to change

their stand on polygamy and their missionary approach and the

effort by german mission presidents to downplay doctrines or

practices repugnant to local german leaders in order to

receive permission to preach their message suggests a futurewhen the church might choose the benefit of government recog-

nition at the price of ignoring the morally oppressive nature

of that government such as later occurred in hitlers thirdreich and the german democratic republic

in effect the results of the contest between the prus-

sian officials and the mormon missionaries while hardly

affecting contemporary world events offer insight into the

attitudes of both groups which could offer explanations for

future actions by both the german nation and mormon church

CHAPTER ONE

THE GERMAN AND MORMON SETTINGS

the nineteenth century witnessed the birth and expansion

of a wide range of ideas political movements and even nation

states and religious organizations among these new enter-prises the prussiandominatedprussian germandominated empire and the church of

jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday an americanbornamerican religionborn

struggled to take their place on the world stage although

operating on different planes of concern they came into co-nflict over the ideas and practices of religious freedom and

social morality this conflict had its roots not only in the

political and social issues of the day but also in the ideo-

logical foundations on which these institutions were builtthese foundations can be found in the german socioreligioussocio

developments

religiousduring the reformation and later the emergence

of the latterdaylatter saintday or mormon community and the begin-

nings of mormon missionary work in germany

germany which had not acted as a unified nation since1618 nevertheless possessed a religious and cultural frame-

work dating back for centuries the introduction of thereformation took place on german soil in the early sixteenthcentury the writings of martin luther fostered strong

feelings of german national identity liberating the germans

12

13

from the claims of roman temporal authority the german

language flourished as protestant ideas were expressed in the

familiar common tongue rather than in the exclusive latinon the negative side the whole reformation conflict inclu-ding the destructive thirty years war 161816481618 had1648 a fur-

ther divisive effect on german unity for almost three hundred

years

the augsburg decision of 1555 which recognized the poli-

tical impact of the reformation and the peace of westphalia

of 16481 established the principle of culus regloregio elus

religrreligiobeligiorelier io as the ruler so the religion in the german statesand contributed to the breakup of the unstable holy roman

empire into more than three hundred competing regions pro-

testant as well as catholic new german states emerged from

the religiousregionalreligious disarrayregional most importantly the trans-formation of the territories of the militant catholic teutonicorder into the protestant duchy of prussia 2 this realignment

of order in the wake of the thirty years war in concert with

many other contemporary developments so weakened the german

he peace of westphalia signalledsignal theled end of the thirtyyears war a conflict which had begun as a contest betweenthe catholic and protestant princes of the holy roman empireeventually the major powers of europe including catholicfrance and protestant sweden entered the fray which becamemore a struggle to establish a balance of power than areligious battle

scar halecki borderlands of western civilization newyork the ronald press company 1981 152

religionin

the

20scar

14

domains that their dominant place in seventeenth century

europe passed to the french kingdom of louis XIII

the identification of religious authority with the

local political authority part of luthers ideals of church

and state led to some interesting developments in protestant

areas where political reality transferred the office of sum-

mus episcopusepi localscopus supreme bishop or authority from the

ecclesiastical to the political ruler 3 this practice rein-forced the close correlation between political and religiousgovernment the rule of the populace changing to the religionof their current prince ended shortly after the peace of wes-tphalia so that a catholic prince could rule a protestant ter-ritory as its supreme religious leader without requiring the

wholesale conversion of the populace As ernst helmreich a

noted scholar of german religious history points out thisodd religious rulership did occur in prussia and elsewhere 4

still regardless of the denomination from this period

richard V pierard separation of church and state inthe american and german constitutions in liberty and lawreflections on the constitution in american life and thoughtedited and introduced by ronald A wells and thomas askewgrand rapids michigan WB eerdsmanherdsman publishing company

1987 98see also ernst christian helmreich the german churches

under hitler detroit michigan wayne state universitypress 1979 181918 the19 office of summus episcopusepi remainedscopusin the hands of the catholic hierarchy in catholic lands notreverting to the political leadership the superior role ofthe papacy remained as a check to territorial independence ofthe local catholic church

helmreich 19

conversion

religiobeligio

15

through the nineteenth century a strong tie existed between

the state and an established dominant church

A similar complication developed from the establishment

of the landeskircheLandes thekirche territorial church in the period

following the thirty years war every independent politicalunit initially embraced a single state church over which

in the case of protestants the princelsummusprincesujnjnusprincerprincel episcopusepisummus pre-

sided

scopus

in theory as supreme servant not master of thechurch but this condition changed quickly so that the church

soon became part of the state bureaucracy 5

the majority of the smaller german states did not retaintheir independent status particularly after the dissolutionof the holy roman empire by napoleon in 1805 the establish-ment of the profrenchpro confederationfrench of the rhine in 1806 and

the territorial decisions of the 1815 congress of vienna

thus a group of individual landeskirchenLande withinskirchen a single statecould come under the jurisdiction of a single political ruleras happened when protestant prussia acquired the catholic and

reformed rhenish provinces in 1815 these churches might be

unified if they were all protestant and both the leadershipand the majority of the membership concurred 6 again in

ranz schnabel deutsche geschichte im neunzehnten jahrhundert volume 4 die religiosen kraftenklaftenKr freiburgftenaften imbreisgauBreis germanygau herder & co GMBH verlagsbuchhandlung1937 287288287

elmreichhelmreichelm

288

24reich this occurred in nassau in 1817 whenthe duke brought together the reformed and lutheran groups

sidedin theoryas

5franzsen kra

0

eim

7ibidbibidaw8w

9johnajohn

16

prussia the dilemma of a reformed king and a lutheran queen

led to the development in 1817 of an evangelical union between

the two faiths which added one more confession to confuse the

believer 7

religious belief and practice did not remain static ingermany during the period following the peace of westphalianew religious thought came over from england in the seven-

teenth and eighteenth centuries which in turn elicited theo-

logical responses from german scholars partially inspiring

the contributions of such influential enlightenment scholarsas gotthold lessing and immanuel kant 8 important controversy

erupted when david strauss following the hegelian model of

rational theology published his work life of jesus critic-ally examined in 1835 among a score of unpopular assertionshe implied that a religious community was responsible for itsfaith not the state an attitude in direct conflict with the

traditional social order 9

pietism a program of active christianization of daily

life also began in the seventeenth century eventually

bid 25

W R ward faith and fallacy english and germanperspectives in the nineteenth century in religion andphilosophy in the united states of america proceedings of thegermanamericangerman conferenceamerican at paderbornPader julyborn 29august29 august 11986 ed peter freese essen west germany verlag die blaueeule 1987 474947

9

49

john E groh nineteenth century german protestantismwashington DC university press of america inc 1982

158162158 162

0

0

17

coming to influence government circles toward its view of

christianity by the nineteenthmidnineteenthmid century 10 the advocates

of this movement tended towards social and political conser-

vatism centering their worship experience in a home environ-

ment 11

As a further complication the impact of the napoleonic

wars kindled german nationalistic feelings which had few

avenues of expression because of the particularistic policiesof the various german princes and their governments 12 con-

sequently a strong portion of the patriotic fervor attached

itself to religious identity 13 even prussia up till thattime a very secular kingdom began to proclaim itself a

christian state 14

efforts after 1840184 by government officials and pietiststo establish their views as socially and politically signi-

ficant led to the formation of a counter group the lichtL

freundefreundelfre

lchtacht

orunde friends of light a group which spoke out

gordon craig the germans new york G putnams sons1982 869186

iledalieda

91

sagarra A social history of Germangermanygermanyl 1648 1914london methuen & co ltd 1977 209210209

the

210

victory of nationalism in the germanspeakinggermannations

speakingcould conceivably require that independent

principalities would have to give up their political existencein order to form a nation of german people this idea did notsit well with the dynasties most especially the influentialhabsburgsHabs ofburgs austria who presided over a multiethnicmulti realmethnic

ward 53

ibid

0

time

0

eda

12

13

14

vl

18

vigorously against the role of government in religious ma-

tters 15 at the same time a different complicationcomplicationthe the

reluctance of local congregations to pay for more pastors and

religious establishments generated a decline in the number of

new clergy at a time when the german population experienced

tremendous growth 16 the efforts of the prussian kings par-

ticularly friedrich wilhelm III111ili and IV to unite the protest-

ant religious community and exercise government control over

church activities only exacerbated the growing tensionsbetween statedictatedstate doctrinedictated and personal religious convic-

tion 17 the general condition of the german protestant com-

munity during the early nineteenth century therefore could

hardly be called cohesive or cooperative

the revolutions of 1848 changed the political foundations

of the german absolutist states driving several princes

including the king of prussiatoprussia provideto a constitution for

their subjects in addition middle class nationalists joined

together in a representative body in frankfurt am main to

found a united german nation austria included in keeping

with the spirit of the day they formulated a national consti-tution to codify and order the political rights of the people

article V of the frankfurt constitution concerned itselfwithwi religiousth matters it delineated four important reli

groh 187 and sagarra 213

sagarra 211

sagarra 207208207 213215213208 215

establishmentsgenerated

efforts

15groh

16sagarra

17sagarra

ticularly

16

17

ofmoftfentlichenentlicherent lichen

reichstareichstag ckeacke

19

giousbious rights every german should enjoy complete freedom of

religion and conscience every german should enjoy unrestric-ted private hauslichenuslichenhaus andlichen public qffentlichen worship

each religious institution such as the jesuits and mon-

asteries should be self governing but subject to the statethe corollary stated that new religions could be formed with-

out the permission of the state finally no one should be

forced to perform an ecclesiastical ordinance against hiswill these rights which did not survive the 1848 constitu-tion were deemed so important that when the reichstag from

december 1900 to march 1901 considered the limits of religiousfreedom for the entire german empire these statutes were

included in the source documents which the delegates studied

prior to the debate 18

after 1848 prussia worked to maintain the appearance of

religious diversity and freedom but legal safeguards were

prepared by nineteenthmidnineteenthmid century to bolster the existingreligious traditions and institutions at the expense of u-pstart religious bodies the prussian state constitution of

1850 article 12 statesfreedom of religious confession of association inreligious societies and of the common exercise ofreligion in public and private is guaranteed theenjoyment of civil and political rights shall notbe dependent upon religious belief but the exer-cise of religious liberty shall not be permitted to

stenocrraphische berichterichtegerichteBe uberber die verhandluncren desdeutschen reichstaqes reichstag aktenstuaktenstiicke no 372 2431

ha

institutionsuch

cons ideredideaed

astenograiphische U

us

Reichsta

20

interfere with the civil or political duties of thecitizens 19

articles 13 14 and 17 established further legal eccle-

siastical parameters religious associations had no corporate

rights the christian religion formed the basis of state reli-gious institutions and patronage of the church could be ended

by law 20 similarly article 30 dealing with non governmengovernment

tal associations indicated that these associations must not

contravene the penal laws 21 it further made clear thatthe law retained the right to impose restrictions on religiousexpression in the interest of public safety a term left unde-

fined article 31 clearly established that corporate rightsa status which unrecognized religious associations desired for

their own protection new unorthodox religions were thedomain of the king and the legislators as opposed to

19 constitution of the kingdom of prussia translated byjames harvey robinson annals of the american academy ofpolitical and social science philadelphia july december1894 philadelphia american academy of political and socialscience 1895 29

ibid robinson notes further on page 29 that articles15 16 and 18 which dealt with the internal selfregulationselfof

regulationchurches and religious associations and preserved the right

of the church leaders to have access to their superiorsbecame a casualty of the kulturkampf on june 18 1875

prussian state law landrechtLand forrecht exampledifferentiated between a religious association and a churchwith the former being merely a body of likemindedlike believersmindedand the latter a government recognized religious movementfor more see the 1896 edition of the allgemeineallcremeine landrechtLand furrechtdie preu8ischepreufiische staatenslaaten in seiner jetzigenictziqen gestalt berlincarl heymanns verlag 1896

ibid 32

9

121

0

20

fur

21

siastical

21

ordinance powers of the king alone 22 so long as thelegislature was moderately independent of the king this lastqualification would insure that religious bodies which pos-

sessed a corporate distinction such as the recognized chur-

ches would be relatively free from arbitrary treatment by theking and his ministers unrecognized bodies such as thebaptists suffered the banishment of clergy by royal fiatwithout recourse 23

on the surface it appeared that a form of religiousfreedom existed in prussia by 1850 this condition was some-

what illusory since many of the constitutional rights did not

take effect until passage of enabling legislation which might

take years to accomplish as in the case of the civil marriage

clause of article 19 24 in addition all that was required

to rescind these rights for any particular religious group

would be to determine that some part of their doctrine or

activity violated criminal law effectively disguising any

effort at harassment as operating in the best interest of thepublic welfare in december 1850 king friedrich wilhelm IV

appointed as minister of religious affairs karl otto von

ibid 20 28

orson spencer the prussian mission of the church ofjesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday london W C armstrong1853 5

ibid the constitution was promulgated in 1850 but theeffective legislation waited twentyfivetwenty yearsfive until thekulturkampf was raging and these matters became germane to thestruggle

22

23

1853f24

91261126

communcomman itiesaties

22

raumer with whom he worked to effectively stop any chance of

the evangelical union acquiring any independence from the

state 25 actual religious freedom along the lines of thenineteenthcenturynineteenth americancentury model remained foreign to prussia

and to most of the other german statesat the same time with governmental involvement in reli-

gious affairs a legal reality the conjunction of spiritualand temporal authority to maintain the status quo developed

into the symbiotic relationship described as throne and

altar 26 local church authorities played an important roleas the protectors and arbiters of local culture preserving

and protecting the status quo and the local political auth-orities backed up the churchs rights eda sagarra a socialhistorian notes that german governments especially prussia

in the early nineteenth century encouraged this trend in an

effort to control the religious culture of the nation theprussians appointed conservative mainstream pietistic appli-cants as pastors and other local church leaders rather than

radicals like the lichtfreunde and others 27

while the focus has been on protestantism up to thispoint similar movements were occurring in the catholic statesand communities jonathon sperber indicates that the german

catholic culture exhibited both a spiritual revival similar

groh 261

pierard26pierard 98 groh 187

sagarra 209

fore ign

25groh 2 6 1

26

27sagarra27

23

to pietism and a tendency towards political and cultural con-

servatism 28 it should be noted that while the parishes

usually preferred little change during the intense constitu-tional struggles of the 1860s german catholics did support

political liberalization 29 the most significant differencebetween the catholic and protestant worlds lay in the fealtyowed by the catholics to a nongermannon authoritygerman the roman

pope in an attempt to control this situation the prussian

interior minister von westphalen and minister von raumer in

1852 together circulated a decree clarifying and narrowing the

constitutional limits of a clerics rights to preach parti-cularly for foreigners 30

the declaration of papal infallibility in 1870 with itsattendant implication of supreme papal authority in spiritualmatters presented german catholics with a conflict of loyaltywhose resolution would eventually test their allegiance both

jonathon sperber popular catholicism in nineteenthcentury germany princeton new jersey princeton universitypress 1984 1015410

29

154

margaret lavinia anderson the kulturkampf and thecourse of german history central european journal 19 march1986 838483

ernst

84

rudolf huber and wolfgang huber staat und kircheim 19 und 20 jahrhundertJahr dokumenteDokuhundert zurmente geschichte desdeutschen staatskirchenrechts volume 2 staatistaatistatt und kirche imzeitalterZei destalter hochkonstitutionalismus und des kulturkampfs1848189018481890111848 1890189011 berlin duncker & humblothumbletHum 1976blot 707170 the71clergy would be liable if their actions or preachingtransgressed any law or in any way affected public calm orin any way led to dangerous excesses the decree does notdefine public calm or dangerous excesses

2

IV

28

30ernst2 0

servat ism

24

to the new nation and to the ancient faith 31 this tense

relationship continued into the entire period of the hard

fought kulturkampfkulturkampff the struggle of bismarck and the liberalsin the 1870s against catholic influence on german culture and

education

the year 1870 marks an additional important turning point

in the political and consequently religious condition ofgermany just prior to this date twentyeighttwenty separateeight

nations had a sizeable germanspeakinggerman populationspeaking using the

impetus of the francoprussianfranco warprussian of 1870711870 on71 nationalistfeeling prince otto von bismarck maneuvered the reluctantgerman princes into rekindling a german empire excluding

austria and switzerland with the creation of this new

nation state dominated by prussian interests and militarythe german people and culture faced a new future

in addition to the larger questions of national religiousinstitutions an important element of german religious cultureresides in the traditions of the village while the rulermight attempt to impose his religious views on a nation in

the individual villages the church played a crucial arbiterrole karl siegfried bader in his study of german villagerelationships noted that the from the medieval period on the

31 james hastings nichols history of christianity 1650-1950 secularization of the west new york the ronald presscompany 1956 211214211 214

25

village church stood at the natural center of the comm-

unity 32 church officials supervised the religious and the

moral lives of the parishioners 33 this condition existednot only in the mountain villages of bavaria and austria but

essentially throughout the whole germanspeakinggerman regionspeaking thepastor even oversaw matters of judgementjud outsidegement the compet-

ence of religion 34 thus at the simplest level the rolesof the church and government were joined rather than heldseparate

in contrast to the centurieslongcenturies germanlong religious evolu-

tion the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday themormonscormonsMor arosemons in the early nineteenth century from the socialand religious setting of protestant new england in theamerican world constitutional guarantees of religious libertyhad real political substance 35 individual feeling possessed

more relevance in matters of religious choice than statebasedstatemoral

based

and spiritual decrees diversity while not always

popular formed an acceptable basis for religious expres-

sion 36 any person could profess any persuasion or faith so

karl siegfried bader dorfgenossenschaftdorfqenossenschaft unddorfcfemeindedorfgemeinde weimar germany herman bohlaushlausbohraus nachfolger1962 195

ibid 209

ibid 188

ierardpierard 88

donna hill joseph smith the first mormon garden citynew york doubleday & company inc 1977 161716 17

3

320

BO

33

34

35p

36

26

long as the rights of others in the community were not

trampled upon

unlike the centuriesdistantcenturies reformationdistant and the century

old pietism the sources of latterdaylatter saintday religious enthu-

siasm in the period just prior to 1870 were fresh the foun-

der joseph smith had suffered martyrdom only twentyfivetwenty

yearsivefivelve

earlier the majority of the church leadership in 1870

had direct ties to smith and still carried the zeal of hisvision the germans between 1618 and 1648 during the great-

est conflict of the reformation had undergone devastating

warfare initially motivated by religious creeds which resultedin a political and spiritual stalemate the mormonscormonsMor onmons the

other hand had moved four times and 2000 miles in a quarter

of a century under the lash of persecution culling the faintof heart and stiffening the resolve of those members who

remained faithfultheir primary focus was achieving personal salvation for

themselves and their family and building the kingdom of god

before the second coming of christ restoring and impleme-

nting the various characteristics which their leaders told them

gods realm required necessitated significant adaptations in

orthodox protestant christian doctrine and behavior which iso-

lated the mormons from the general body of believers some of

these new components such as new scripture the book ofmormon and the doctrine and covenants and claims of contin-uing revelation directly from god threatened no political

suffered

scripturethecovenantsand

f

difdlff icultscult 1

27

institution directly other aspects such as the constructionof a literal kingdom of god combining spiritual and politicalauthority the introduction of polygamy and the encouragement

of emigration awakened serious concerns in the communities

where mormons actively proselytedproselyterthe relationship between the mormon church and the poli-

tical leaders of the various regions in which they sojournedsojournsojourney

notably the states of missouri and illinois was tense at bestand vindictive at worst despite the american constitutionalrights of freedom of worship and speech local groups con-

tested the presence of the mormonscormonsMor andmons these conflicts eve-ntually caused so much turmoil that in 1838 the governor of

missouri ordered the expulsion or extermination of any latterday saint within state borders 37 comparable difficultieswith local citizens culminated in the winter departure of theweary latterdaylatter saintsday from illinois in 1846 before themormon move to utah then an unnamed mexican territory free of

american settlements 38 after years of unrelenting persecu-

tion the church leaders saw the isolated arid lands of thegreat basin as a refuge from the world and encouraged hard

work to make a positive change among the bleak surroundings

relocation in utah did not end the conflicts between themormons and their detractors two different military actions

37james B alienallenailen and glen M leonard the story of thelatterdaylatter saintsday salt lake city utah deseret bookcompany 1976 127

ibid 220222

spiritual

es

0

38

ed

220 222

anfadfahistorbistor f

28

in 1857 the invasion of the united states army utah exped-ition to install a new nonmormonnon territorialmormon governor and the

southern utah assault on an emigration group in the mountain

meadows demonstrate the ongoing distrust mutually felt by the

latterdaylatter saintsday and the united states while little actualfighting occurred between the utah mormon settlers and

johnstonsJohnsto armyarmythenfs the expeditions unofficial namenane the very

presence of the soldiers spoke volumes about the suspicions of

the american government of the mormon community the mountain

meadows massacre the title by which the tragic assault in

southern utah became known equally expressed the frustrationand tension which some of the local mormons felt as a conse-

quence of their treatment by the citizenry of the united

states while no general mormon leader condoned the action

the mountain meadows massacre was cited as an example ingermany at least of the callous disregard of the mormons forany one not professing the latterdaylatter saintday faith 39

military problems aside the period from 1846 to 1871

witnessed the growth of the utah commonwealth church leadersencouraged new settlements in the area from southern idaho toarizona attempts to encourage local economic independence

flourished with limited success affected eventually by the

eduard meyer ursprungurspruncrursyrungUrsy undrung geschichte der mormonenMor mitmilnitnilmonenexkursenkurs uber die anfanqe des islamsislami und des christentumsChristenchristchrise theentumsorigin and history of the mormons with reflection on thebeginnings of islam and christianity translated by heinz Frahde and eugen seaich salt lake city utah university ofutah 1961 173175 undated german newspaper articleamerika gottfried blatter journal LDS church archives

namethe

39eduardnge tums

173 175

39

29

intrusion of the railroad in 1869 continual missionary

activities in the united states and europe coupled with the

doctrine of gathering generated an influx of emigrants

although germanspeakinggerman participationspeaking was generally limited

until 1870 and never reached the same numbers which the

british and scandinavian members achieved 40

numerical lack of missionary success did not mean thatgermans did not know of the mormons existence during thattime in a study of german views of mormonism during the

nineteenth century DL ashliman indicates that a variety of

books and pamphlets describing the strange mormon physical and

spiritual worlds appeared in german bookstores in that period

early reports include the 1853 travelogue by jacob schielpart of an unfortunate exploration party which had littlegood to say about utah or its inhabitants 41

along similar lines the 1853 volume of the brockhaus

encyclopedia a respected german sourcebooksource tookbook an almost

conversational tone and uncharacteristic dismissive attitudeto the entire mormon endeavor the articlearticie inaccuratelyrecounts the beginnings of the book of mormon refers to the

founder as joe smith 11 mistranslates deseret a book of

douglas40douglas dexter alder the germanspeakinggerman immigrationspeakingto utah 185018901850 1890 masters thesis university of utah1959 89

it should be noted that very few germans joined thechurch prior to 1871

DL ashliman the image of utah and the mormons innineteenthcenturyineteenthnineteenthnineteenth germanycentury utah historical quarterlyuarterlv 353

summer 1967 213

inf lux

1141

articleinaccurately

41dlN e

40

30

mormon term referring to the honeybee as desert adheres to

the solomon spaulding theory of the book of mormon origins and

generally turns up it editorial nose at the whole movement

the reference to polygamy however comments on the practicein passing without the positive or negative views of latercommentaries and does offer this favorable assessment

if on the one hand the extraordinary effort and visionof the mormons in colonization which in connection withthe admirable endurance led to the rapid blooming of themormon state on the other hand the important geographiclocation and the enthusiastic new immigrantgeneratingimmigrantproselyting

generatingpromised the development and future influence

of the state 42

seeing that the only external documentary reference is togunnisons the mormons or latterdaylatter saintsday in the valley of

the great salt lake this partisan attitude can be understood

the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday had

fostered a proselyting movement even before its inception in

1830 43 even the idea of gathering the believers to a speci-

fied locale for their personal growth and benefit surfaced

shortly after joseph smith organized the church 44 the vari-ous revelations on the subject never downplayeddown theplayed urgency

of the work particularly the initial labors and the mission-

aries who went to garner new converts did not worry over much

42 mormonenMor allqemeinemonen deutsche real encyklopadie fairfiirdie gebildetencrebildeten standesta

honeybeeas

rnde conversations lexikonlexiconLexikon

43

44doctrinedocPoc andtrine covenants 3831333831 salt33 lake city utahchurch of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday 1987 65

encvklopadie fuloth edition

volume 10 leipzig F M brockhaus 1853 667

allen and leonard 485048 50

dle

31

about whether they would get permission to preach 45 in thisthey felt themselves fulfilling the words of jeremiah 1616and the injunction of jesus christ to bring his gospel to thewhole world matt 2819 mark 1615

initially these missionaries were mostly young but

mature family men anxious to share the word but by the end

of the nineteenth century the church assigned younger singlemen the burden of spreading the message 46 along the same

lines organized finances for the first missionaries did not

exist instead they travelled as the first apostles without

purse or scrip by the turn of the century however eitherpersonal savings family or friends supported missionaries 47

the converts brought in by the various missions provided

much needed numbers in order to build the kingdom of god in

the western regions of america 48 their numbers increased so

that by 1870 european immigrants constituted the largestportion of utahs adults 49

doctrine and covenants 44 63 113 and 333 alldating from the earliest months of the churchs existencerepeatedly stated that harvest was ready and waiting in anatmosphere of anticipation and new revelations the impetuoustendencies of the missionaries can be understood

leonard J arrington and davis bitton the mormonexperience new york alfred A knopf 1979 42 109

thomas G alexander mormonism in transition chicagouniversity of illinois press 1986 217

allen and leonard 119

alexander 212

existinstead

9

11 4

45 631

46leonard

47

48

49

46

elnein

hedeinhydein

32

the venture to bring the new faith of the latterdaylattersaints

day

to germany got off to a rocky start from the very

beginning joseph smith had spoken highly of the german people

and luthers translation of the bible 50 but when two mormon

apostles orson hyde in 1842 and john taylor in 1851 attemp-

ted to open a mission to the german states with literature and

preaching their efforts seemed to have had little effecthyde contributed the pamphlet einbin ruf aus der wiisteliiste while

taylor a decade later oversaw the first translation of thebook of mormon into german hyde worked in the regions of

regensburg and frankfurt and taylor worked in and around

hamburg but they effectively accomplished very little in thegerman states 51 prior to taylors arrival george P dykes

had arrived in northern germany and performed the first nativegerman baptisms in german water along the frontier between

danish and german confederation austrian and prussian

forces political complications in his work area motivated

dykes to seek taylorstaylorfs advice and so he left the duchy of

schleswigSch forleswig england where taylor resided at the time 52

50 joseph fielding smith ed teachings of the prophetProiproljoseph

phetsmith salt lake city utah deseret book company

1979 349

scharffs 4

letter george P dykes to franklin D richards october14 1851 german mission manuscript history LDS archives

WUste

confederationaustrian

51

52

his I1

33

dykes later returned with taylor and aided him in translationand publication work 53

shortly after taylors departure in 1852 a replacement

a native german daniel carncamcaa arrived in hamburg in the capa-

city of the first german mission president and began working

he reached more individuals than his predecessors but shortlybecame the subject of government scrutiny brought on by co-mplaints of local priests 54 carncamcaa did not speak cautiously

instead boldly asserting his message and attacking the beliefsof the local churches as wrong or misguided while thehamburg syndics local government officials cited no specificlegal wrongdoing to justify expelling carncamcaa they summarily

exiled him as a member of a dangerous church 55

in 1853 a delegation of two men orson spencer and jacob

houtz travelled from utah to berlin in response to a request

by king friedrich wilhelm IV of prussia to know more about

the history of the church of jesus christ of latterdaylattersaints

day56 whatever the kings motives he had requested

books on the matter from his legate not from the church

itself the mormons jumped at the opportunity and authorizedspencer and houtz during the october conference of 1852 to

visit prussia and preach the gospel arriving in hamburg

scharffs 8

millennial star 14603 1852

journal history february 15 1854

spencer 5

motiveshe

itselfthe

wscharffs54mi llennialglennialllenliennial55

56

34

during january 1853 not long after carnscamscaas exile the two men

contacted the local american consul a german native named

bromberg who received them cordially and informed them thatthe prussians would not accept their message but would remove

them out of their kingdom immediately 57

moving on to berlin the emissaries sought out the ameri-

can legation for aid in determining the likelihood of meeting

with the king and the legal condition of religion and emigra-

tion in prussia after initial maneuvers of diplomatic proto-

col spencer and houtz visited both the legation secretarymr fay and the legate mr barnard fay questioned them

closely about their mission and religion while barnard gave

them a reasonably accurate description of contemporary prus-

sian religious conditions he asserted that effectively only

the evangelicallutheranevangelical denominationlutheran received royal recogni-

tion with the exception of the recently acquired catholicprovinces baptists barnard asserted experienced signifi-cant persecution and had learned to keep their activitiessecret 58

the legate also described the emigration laws noting

that the emigration required completion of service in theprussian military before departure he portrayed the kingscurrent political attitude as more conservative than prior tothe revolution of 1848 with absolutism the kingskingfkinga creed

ibid r 3

ibid 45

0

0

for

s

57

58 4 5

35

along these same discouraging lines barnard informed the men

that the german newspapers had announced their mission along

with a notice of the emigration of danish mormon converts

inaccurately exaggerating the numbers of the emigrants as

well as the purpose for moving to utah in that sort of atmo-

sphere he could offer them no hope of success for theirmission 59

their subsequent efforts to see the king including a

letter addressed to the minister of religious affairs von

raumer explaining that the king had shown interest in mormon

history and doctrine did not succeed in gaining an appoint-

ment instead they were summoned to a summary hearing in a

police court where their religious views underwent thorough

scrutiny spencer notes that while questioned about thenature of mormon marriage practices the judges failed to

specifically ask them about polygamy a practice which orson

pratt had announced publicly in salt lake city just a year

earlier the judges did not demonstrate any interest in themissionary message nor any tolerance for religious freedom

even though constitutional provisions supporting this idea

existed finally the court informed the men that they were

banished and after considerable discussion including the

officials checking the train schedule for the earliest time of

departure from prussian territory spencer and houtz left 60

ibidibid 611

59

60 6 11

36

although the judges refused to allow the mormons to see

the actual banishment decree there can be little doubt thatthe april 26 1853 decree originated in this courtroom 61 inan attempt to describe the mental and political views which

prevailed in prussia and by extension western europe

spencer called up the nineteenth century image of ancientegypt a land ruled by despots and darkness prussiansprussianoPrus

according

siansto spencer had been so long estranged from their

natural rights to the extent that their consciences insteadof leading them to freedom had instead become despots11despots

accusing and menacing them the prussian subjects for pre-

suming to think or speak in matters of freedom and salva-

tion 62 the optimistic mormon effort to address the king

rather than paving the way to religious opportunity laid thegroundwork in the form of the 1853 decree for a conflict halfa century later

in other places the early missionary work also sufferedcarnscamscaas successor in hamburg george reiser received the same

treatment which his predecessor had carnscamscaas first convert

christian binder apostatized while en route to utah wrote

back to his brother and negatively affected fifteen members of

the 1853 decree spends little time discussing polygamyjust as the justices did and claims that the mormons wereinterested in promoting emigration to expand utahs populationfor purposes of setting up an independent state similar tothe newspaper and posted accounts which spencer describes inhis report the text of the decree is found in appendix A

spencer 13

in

61the

62

11

nfeldtafeldt

37

the hamburg branch these in turn collaborated with the localpolice to drive the missionaries out of hamburg 63 thehamburg branch disappeared

the one light in the other dim tale of difficult work

appears in the person of karl G maeser a saxon educator

attracted to the church by adversarial reporting in 1855

maeser contacted mormon leaders and eventually met with a

mormon apostle franklin D richards their meeting and thesubsequent conversation without a translator stands high in

the annals of missionary miracles maeser after his conver-

sion and emigration to utah returned to the swissgermanswiss mis-

sion

german

field in 1867 his work and success as mission president

are nothing less than remarkable founding the germanspeakinggerman

church

speaking

publication derper stern as well as personally expanding

the mission effort beyond the swiss borders into southerngermany converting enough local people to establish branches

in bavaria and rttembergwurttembergwurttembergeottembergWurt aftertemberg he left in 1870 succeeded

by his brother in law edward schonfeldt the work decreased

partly due to the outbreak of francoprussianfranco warprussian thatyeayear 64

thus in 1870 these two emerging communities the unifiedgerman nation with centuries of religious tradition and

development and the newly established utah church with its

justus ernst geschichte der deutsch siprechendesprechende missionunpublished manuscript LDS archives entry date 1854

scharffs 27

in WU

scho

63

64

rt

38

americanbornamerican idealisticborn fervor met at an ideological and

social crossroads for the next fortyfourforty yearsfour the two

institutions contested or avoided each other in an effort tomaintain and strengthen their own versions of religious and

social order

sionslonariesarles emigration polygamy and social democracy allail of

which challenged german social and cultural traditions the

variance between the mormon and prussian perceptions of these

three concepts laid the foundation for the contest which

erupted between the two at the beginning of the twentiethcentury

on april 26 1853 three months after orson spencer and

jacob houtz had met with the judges in berlin the prussian

39

CHAPTER TWO

THE DANGERS OF MORMONISM emigration POLYGAMY AND SOCIALexperimentation

prior to the end of the german empire the numbers ofmormon missionaries in germany and their german converts never

rose above 5500 individuals especially in the 1870s neve-rtheless most german governments especially the prussiansprussianoPrus

seemed

siansto consider the missionaries as a threat to their

state since the number of mormons never seriously menaced

prussia or any other german state the concern which prussian

officials expressed about the presence of the missionariesmust have been rooted in their perception of the mormons

something about the american missionaries must have threatened

the prussians at an almost irrational level in fact prussian

authorities associated three attitudes with the mormon mi-ssionaries

empirelre

democracyall

theless

40

government issued its first comprehensive banishment decree

against mormonscormonsMor themons ruling cited the undesirable tendency ofmormon converts to emigrate to utah as a reason to expel

mormon missionaries the language of the decree focused not

on doctrines and practices but on a perception of the prus-

sian government that church leaders in utah desired politicalindependence from the federal government if missionaries

could attract a large enough immigrant population to qualifyas a state utahnsutahna would be subject to its own local laws

rather than federal decrees hostile to the mormon way of lifeduring an interview with the american legate in berlin

spencer learned that16 the existing laws of the prussian governmentdistinctly forbad emigration the laboring poorwere regarded as constituting an essential part of the

support of the government and any religion that favorsemigration is obnoxious to the policy and laws of thegovernment 1

only fortysixforty yearssix had elapsed since the prussian

government had freed the serfs and the possibility existed

that the paternalistic mindsetmindret of the government had not yet

shifted to recognizing the freedoms promised in the 1850 co-nstitution also the prussian government perceived emigration

as threatening to state welfare particularly among thefactoryworkingfactory populationworking in the 1853 decree the interiorminister specified using prussian criminal code 114 as a

further penalty for mormonscormonsMor shouldmons they persist in their

spencer 5

stitution

2grohzgroh

41

advertised pattern of encouraging emigration the law forms

part of series of statutes punishing military desertion and

persuasion of laborers to leave prussia specifically S 114

discourages factory laborers from departing the kingdom forlike employment in any other state by requiring anyone encou-

raging emigration to be imprisoned for at least one month

the law makes no reference to improprieties of marriage or any

other religious or social issue dealing only with workers

leaving prussian posts the original displeasure of the king

and his ministers in 1853 fell on the economic rather than

social aspects of mormonism

while the prussian lawmakers viewed the common people as

the essential foundation of the kingdoms economic strength

the latter did not always share that view emigration con-

tinued in spite of legislative difficulties already in 1817

the rttembergwiirttembergottemberg government concerned by the numbers of theirpeople emigrating to different countries appointed friedrich

list later renowned for his national economic studies to

determine the causes of emigration and how to counteract them

list specified the main motives for departure as taxes

military costs excise taxes local oppression and judicialdelays with religion and individual economic concerns as

secondary 2 gunter moltmann reevaluating lists observa-

tions postulates that in addition to lists catalog of

causes the emigrants own dissatisfaction with his restricted

roh 95

for

WUrttemberg

3gungunteranter

4grohzgroh

42

place in the tight social hierarchy might have played a

greater role in motivating emigration than list recognized

moltmann notes that while the individual emigrant often had

multiple reasons to relocate complaints about social inequ-ities including frustration with religious freedom would not

be expressed to the local dignitaries so as not to provide an

excuse for the customs officials to withhold permission foremigration As illustration he cites lists own observations

that in 1817 and again 1822 some emigrants once they had

safely embarked would openly berate the society which they

were leaving 3

groh commenting on the same events agrees that while

religion was not a primary motive contemporary government

reports regularly cited religion as a motive for a substantialportion of annual emigration 4 sagarra states baldly thatattempts to force some protestants to join the evangelical

union resulted instead in group emigrations to find freedom of

worship 5 A leading clergyman in the 1820s johan heinrichjung stilling openly advocated emigration as a religious act

munterhunter moltmann german emigration to the united statesduring the first half of the nineteenth century as a socialprotest movement in germany and america essays on problemsof international relations and immigrationImmi edaration hans Ltrefousse brooklyn college studies on society in change no21 ed belabeia K kartolykartaly new york brooklyn college press1980 103109103

roh

109

95

sagarra 212

be la

blabiatter fu7dieadie

43

in his journal the gray man 6 the connection between religionand emigration therefore while not statistically overwhelm-

ing did achieve some notoriety which may have affected thereactionary government of prussia

an article which appeared fifty years later in an 1872

catholic journal provides another perspective on german

emigration troubles using political irony the catholicauthor quoted from an opposition liberal weekly im neuen

reich which bemoaned the ongoing loss of german citizensdespite the recent glorious reality of german unity he

contrasted the liberal papers bewilderment over emigration

with the occurrence of increasing taxes the specter of mili-tary service three wars in the last eight years and the

decline of economic health of the farmer and artisan faced

with an uncertain future the author viewed the choice of

emigration for the impacted groups particularly farmers as

a rational alternative he also faulted the various german

governments for ignoring the plight of emigrants while they

were underway to a new land the author asserted that untilthe united states drew international attention to the miser-

able conditions of hygiene and overcrowding on board emigrant

ships the imperial german government refused to acknowledge

any responsibility for german citizens 7

roh6grohzgroh 959695

die

96

deutsche auswanderung nach amerika historischpolitischepoli blattertische fur das katholischekathol deutschlandische 70 1872252270252 270

servicethree yearsand

0 01

rdle

ater

solsoi icitude

44

american solicitude in the nineteenthmidnineteenthmid century foremigrants from other lands has an easy explanation severalamerican states michigan wisconsin ohio kansas west

virginia and minnesota became involved in encouraging german

emigration during this period even the embattled united

states government solicited an influx of german immigrants

towards the end of the civil war these activities did not go

unnoticed by german officials or newspapers ingrid schoberl

in her extensive examination of these activities reports the

general anger and frustration manifested by the german press

in response to this type of population poaching this uproar

did not however stop the flow even the american civil war

did not discourage young men who wanted to leave germany 8

she quotes an american consular report that there were thou-

sands of young ablebodiedable menbodied anxious to emigrate thiscountry for the purpose of engaging in our military

service 9

prussian concern over the loss of workers was not simply

the overreaction of bureaucrats to a political chimera em-

igration statistics tabulated in the 1880s confirmed that a

significant number of skilled individuals already had leftgermany for the united states in the nineteenth century in a

ingrid schoschoberlberlberi amerikanischeAmerika einwanderungwerbungeinwanderunqwerbunqnische indeutschland 184519141845 stuttgart1914 west germany franz steinerverlag 1990 616261

MD

62

ross to john A andrew foreign relations 18643177 cited in SchoSchofschoberlberiterlberlaerlaeri 63

for

minnesotabecame

officials schoberlberi

in119

9md

beri

beri

dmd

lostatelofstate

45

report to congress on european emigration in 1886 american

consuls serving in germany evaluated the nature of german em-

igration to the united states over the previous two decades

the consuls noted that during that period at least 90 of theemigrants roughly 1270000 persons leaving germany ended up

in america 10 the report also showed that the majority of

that population possessed handicraft skills notably carpen-

ters bakers and painters 11 regrettably the categories of

numbers of families ages and social class did not attract the

attention of the consuls who prepared the reportanalysis by the consuls uncovered conflicting reasons for

emigration varying by region the consul general stationedin berlin stated that dissatisfaction with current cond-itions including political and religious troubles furnished

the primary motivation for seeking a new homeland 12 the

consul in the rhine city of cologne specifically discounted

the influence of political issues such as mandatory militaryservice heavy taxes or overpopulation as causes focussingfoc

instead

ussing

on the individual drive of craftsmen to maintain an

existing standard of living the consul in the new industrialregion of crefeld krefeld noted that industrialization

state department consular report 1887 hereafterconsular report 60

the emigrants which left germany via antwerp and thegerman ports total 1412914 persons

11 consular report 31

consular report 60

0

a

12

46

deprived local weavers of traditional occupation motivating

their departure the hamburg consul william W lang working

in the primary port of departure blamed the movement on over-

population he defined overpopulation in terms of usableresources rather than in square miles noting that pomerania

containing the smallest population and resources suffered the

largest per capita emigration further areas such as hessenassau schleswig holstein and hannover recently annexed by

prussia experienced a significant departure of native popula-

tion even though they did not suffer from the same resource

shortage as pomerania

in addition lang characterized the behavior of theimperial german government in emigration matters in benign

terms ignoring the role which individual states such as

prussia played in setting standards for emigration

the government neither favors nor restrains emigra-tion all its ordinances on the subject look onlyto the welfare and kind treatment which shall beextended to them on their journey it was indeed along time before the government arrived at thiswise conclusion prohibitive measures were triedand proved void of results it would be impossibleto check the tide of emigration without presentingthrough the industrial pursuits a more favoringprospect of a coming prosperity 13

this modification in attitude from the repressive views

of 1853 appears in the later development of empirewideempire em-

igration

wide

rules not from a revision of the more austere and

restrictive prussian system imperial legislation prepared in

consular report 104

in

suf fered

favorsacors

13

47

1878 placed careful attention on licensing and inspecting em-

igration companies the statute stipulated substantial mone-

tary deposits and fines in an effort to force emigration com-

panies to pay closer attention to the wellbeingwell ofbeing theirclients As an indication that the reichstag did not agree

with the prussian system nowhere did any discussion of finesor imprisonment for soliciting emigration occur 14

in a review of the circumstances surrounding emigration

the reichstag legislative committee reported that in 1878

every german state had differing and often conflicting emigra-

tion requirements making compliance with the various statutesgoverning departure very difficult 15 As a typical example

the deputies cited the existing disparity between prussian

determination to punish anyone who wanted to emigrate to

brazil while neighboring hamburg freely and openly encou-

raged brazilian emigration 16 this discrepancy provided the

impetus for an overhaul of imperial emigration laws

the committee which the reichstag had designated to

study the issue postulated that the presence of emigration

agents would not significantly add to the number of emigrants

since it is not so easy to emigrate 17 moreover

deutscher reichstag stenoqrafischer berichterichtegerichteBe desreichtacres 25 february 1878 aktenstuaktenstiick 44

ibid 524527

ibid 527

ibid

0 1117

14 stenocraf ischerreicht 1acres ck

15

16

17

524 527

Stenocraf

48

144 of the 1878 imperial criminal law code punished persons

caught deceitfully encouraging emigration with imprisonment

from one month to two years the delegates recognized thatas long as circumstances conducive to leaving germany existed

no legal or police orders could prevent emigration 18 thecommittee finally determined that it would be smarter to regu-

late emigration than to impose numerical limitations statingthat fear of legal emigration agents emptying germany of her

citizens was hardly rational the numbers of immigrants

arriving at new york according to german sources had

declined in the years between 1872 to 1877 from 128243 to

14682 19

the committee report offered little commentary on thereason that these numbers had declined simply expressing thatthey had A few contemporary events may offer some reasons

for the decline the francoprussianfranco warprussian ended in 1871 in a

victory for prussia and her german allies boosting feelings

of german nationalism and national pride the formation of

the german empire in the wake of the war unleashed an enth-usiastic if fragile economic boom discussed in more detailin the next chapter which could also have encouraged germans

to remain at home interestingly enough however the largestdrop in annual emigration from 110414 emigrants in 1873 to

47623 emigrants in 1874 may reflect not the attraction of

ibid 528

ibid

18

19ibid

siastic

49

prosperity but instead the fact that perhaps people could not

afford emigration for a while additionally the kulturkampf

also discussed in the next chapter may have motivated

catholics to leave in the early 1870s leaving behind thosewho either could not afford the move or preferred to fight the

anticatholicanti governmentcatholic persecutionon the other side of the ocean the mormon doctrine of

gathering to zion utah did not propose to empty germany of

her people especially women 20 douglas alder has carefullyexamined the mormon motives and methods noting that in addi-

tion to such secular motives the idea of building the kingdom

of god in utah presented a significant rationale for departure

from germany his analysis does not ignore worldly reasons

for emigration but does indicate that the majority of german

speaking latterdaylatter saintday immigrants came in response to thereligious and spiritual call to gather alder describes the

church leaders initial enthusiasm for german emigrants in

1850 noting an official change in attitude after 1908 direc-

ted membership to expand mormon congregations outside of utah

preaching emigration to overseas converts constituted an im-

portant part of the mormon message in the period between 1850

and 1900 but corresponding to political concerns in germany

america and utah this practice declined after the turn of the

the idea that mormon missionaries came to lure germanwomen away to polygamous harems persisted well past the turnof the century see for example the 1904 hannover policereport actaadaaaa der mormonenMor betrbearmonen J nr 1 pr 457

20the

2alderaiderbalder

50

century 21 the 1905 diary of president serge F ballifspecifically stated that no article should be published in the

derper stern which would encourage emigration 22

it should be noted that at no time did the number ofmormon emigrants pose a real threat to the german or prussianeconomy external or internal security or tax base As theend of the nineteenth century approached the number of german

mormons who remained in germany reached the thousands

despite the unpleasant treatment by the local officials lack

of permission for meeting halls laws against teaching chil-dren mormon doctrine etc and even though the numbers of

emigrants increased the percentage of departeesdeporteesdep comparedartees to

those who stayed declined from 18 in 1890 to 4 in 1908 in

fact from 1894 to 1908 the percentage of emigrants varied

between 464 from6 1909 to world war I1 derper stern did not

publish specific statistical information about german mormon

emigration baptisms or membership

by the 1880s then emigration no longer played a major

motivational role for banishing mormon missionaries from

1853 but particularly after the evarts circular of 1879

discussed in the next chapter the charge leveled againstmormon missionaries by german officials was offense to public

morals due to the latterdaylatter saintday doctrine of plural marri

alder chapter 6

serge ballif journals 190519081905 unpublished1908 churchof jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday historical departmentarchives

publ isheddished

officialslack

22

51

age the 1853 prussian banishment decree refers to unusualmormon views on marriage but little appeared publicly aboutmormon polygamous practices until the newspaper accounts of

the 1880s

from the 1880s onward the longer reports of mormon acti-vities in official government documents and newspapers usually

included some reference to missionaries offending public

morals this occurred despite the fact that missionaries ingermany took care not to make reference to polygamy after theunited states took steps to stop the practice the actualcomplaints which german officials leveled against the mission-

aries were more apt to be about literature distribution vio-

lating the press laws rather than corrupting the public

moralsmorais

from the german perspective teaching children religiousdoctrines other than establishmentapprovedestablishment materialapproved could be

construed as affecting public morals the kulturkampf of the1870s led off with a round of legislation which took education

out of the hands of religious institutions A reichstag billexpanding religious freedom in the german empire spent a large

portion of its statutes regulating the religious instructionof children 23

the prussian interior ministry in reaffirming the 1853

decree never cited laws specifically aimed at prohibiting

deutscher reichstag stenografischerstenocrrafischer berichterichtegerichteBe desreichtaaes 1901 aktenstuaktenstiick 372 240324092403 2409

reaff irmingarming

23

reichta ck

52

polygamy the 1853 criminal law code S 139 coming under theheading of crimes and acts against morality verbrechenVerb undrechen

vergehenverdehenVer gegengehen die sittlichkeltsittlichkeit while specifically making

commission of a bigamous marriage or authorizing a bigamous

marriage a punishable offencefenceoffenseof is never cited in all of thecorrespondence about mormonscormonsMor thismons discrepancy may stem from

the fact that law did not forbid preaching polygamy and so itwas not specifically a crime the authorities also did not

use S 151 which specifically legislates against printed or

spoken unzuchtUn effectivelyzucht pornography against the mormonscormonsMor

in

mons

spite of their marriage doctrineswhat then is the motive of the officials in avoiding the

moral question in legalities but citing in cause of banish-

ment they hid behind a punishable offense in order to

enforce a moral view of course the officials themselves

were not free of bias regarding moral behavior james woycke

notes that civil servants maintained lives of strict absten-

tion because of the expectation that their lifestyle should

reflect their status as representatives of the state 24

officialdom therefore was not likely to have any sympathy

for an attitude which flouted the accepted norm particularlyin marital matters

the whole concept of polygamy seemed repugnant to the

local and national officials germany as presented to the

24james woycke birth control in germany 187119331871london

1933routledge 1988 the wellcome institute series in

the history of medicine ed by W F bynum and roy porter 8

11

24jamesin

261woyckedycke

53

public by its civil and clerical servants possessed superiormoral values kramer notes the persistent view that thegerman victory over the french owed much to the lower french

social attitudes and behavior 25 the low status civil ser-vants themselves tended towards a celibate lifestyle in order

to maintain the public image of a moral state 26 in contrastto this avidly pursued ideal the literature of the time por-

trayed a very different set of general morals marriages

occurred late in life but society did not expect the men toenter marriage without sexual experience young farmers eastprussian landowners and factory workers pursued accepted

avenues of sexual interaction outside the socially praised

marital limits 27 prostitution particularly in the period

following the unification continued as an element of societygenerations of spinsters proliferated in part due to theeconomic and social barriers to marriage in nineteenthcenturynineteenthineteenthnineteenth

germany

century28

hans kramer deutsche kulturkultar zwischenischenzwischerZw 1871 und 1918handbuchHand derbuch kulturgeschichte frankfurt am main westgermany akademische verlagsgesellschaft athenaionathenasionAthe 1971naion132

oyckeWOycke 8

kramer 132

ibid 133136 kramer is very explicit about the lessthan ideal nature of the german family the lack of love andpassion between the husband and wife the consequent adulteryand the overweening role that social class played in theselection of a spouse and maintenance of a societallycircumspect marriage

1 in

n

25

27

28 133 136

261

blabiatterater

nsteranster

54

that these conditions existed did not mean that immoral

behavior received official approval the socialist movement

in its drive to rebuild society advocated free loveiove ie not

restricted by legal or clerical strictures but that stance

hardly represented orthodox political or social views

polygamy on the whole was not a topic for general discus-

sion in germany although bigamy was a punishable offense itwas not something which regularly appeared in official docu-

ments press commentaries or familyorientedfamily journalsoriented peru-

sal for example of the gartenlaubeGarten familylaube journal during theperiod of the late nineteenth century when mormon activitiesexperienced particular scrutiny by the press presents no

articles on polygamy similarly the enlightened evangelical

journal die christlicheChrist weltliche which discussing quakers

christian scientists social democrats and even the condition

of christianity in north america in its pages between 1880 and

1910 never concerned itself with the mormon views on marri-

age nor any other discussion of polygamy in 1905 the poli-

tical catholic journal historisch politische blatter actuallydiscussed polygamy but only in reaction to a controversy

about phillip of hesses bigamous marriage in the 1520s and

the meinstermiinster anabaptist polygamy of the 1530s

interestingly enough the same journal contained an

article by R paulus about the work of the medieval catholicscholar duns scotusscopus about bigamy scotusscopus indicated that poly-

gamy was permissible if god chose to reveal its necessity

loveiestricturesbut

MU

iovele

expectatexpectexpectant ioncentersionlon

blabiatter fur

blabiatter fU

afufer

55

such conditions as a plague which slew men and left women

behind would count as such an appropriate time neverthelesspaulus down played this condition by saying that god would

have to reveal it to the whole church 29 yet by contemporary

definition revelation was sealed up in the bible no one was

looking for direct divine communication begging the whole

question of how such a dramatic change would come about

it was on this point however that the mormon doctrine

of polygamy rested that is contemporary divine communication

with modern man the whole issue of superior authority

revelation versus societal expectation centers on this point

either the mormons had a divine mandate or they were reprehen-

sible upstarts and a threat to the orthodox status quo iron-ically the issue of authority also struck directly at the root

of the conflict between the mormons and other religions as

paulus pointed out luther himself did not want his words tobe taken as authoritative because it was uncertain what posi-

tions he would have to abandon 30 the evangelical churches

by claiming their authority from the scriptures open to

interpretation by all believers and the state placed thepolitical leaders in a situation where they could enforce

their will on a population by fiat alone rather than lead

R paulus duns scotusscopus und der vielweiberei dermunsterischenMunster widertauferWiderwidertawiderkaischen

for

religionsas

scripturesopenbelieversand

29r

30r Uuberber die polygamiepolygamiellpolygamiaPolyhistorisch

gamiepolitscher blatter fur das katholischekathol deutschlanddeutschlandeDeutschische

141land

1905 86r

taufer historisch politscher blatter furdas katholischekathol deutschlanddeutschlandeDeutschische 141land 1905 776

R paulus cajetan und luther

at

ater

ater

blabiatter fu

nsteranster

nsteranster

nsteranster

nsteranster

cktackt

56

them in a spiritual unity by example christian love and

divine revelation 31

even more interesting is the distaste with which leidensnineteenth century biographer heinrich detmer portrays the

influence of polygamy on the meinstermiinster community the practiceof polygamy undeniably impressed the collected inner develop-

ment of the events with a thoroughly peculiar desolate and

criminal imprint

141 1905 777

MU

01132 his perspective offers a clear

look at the disdain with which a nineteenth century educated

bourgeois german might view the idea of polygamy

A pair of articles in historisch politscher blatter furdas katholischekathol deutschlandische cannot represent the views of a

whole nation or culture the reason that these articles are

included in this study stems from the reality that discussions

of the impact of acceptance of polygamy in a modern society

failed to appear in any other venue the commentaries which

the meinstermiinster anabaptists the only protestants known tohave encouraged polygamy on germany soil provide aninteresting german parallel to the mormon condition thedoctrine of patriarchal polygamy was not common among allanabaptists only popular in the meinstermiinster community moreoverit came at the instigation of a single leading individual thetailor johann von leiden just as the mormon doctrine waspropounded by the farmer joseph smith and later the cabinetmaker brigham young the meinstermiinster anabaptist preachers initi-ally struggled against the idea and then became its staunchesstaunchestsupporters similar to the early mormon leaders who centurieslater were uncomfortable and then later proclaimed theprinciple as divine

die vielweiberei hat der gesamten innerenfinneren entwicklungEntwickder

lungereignisse unleugbar ein durch und durch eigenartigeseigen

wusteswiistescustesartiges

und verbrecherisches gepragegepragepragsdepra aufgedruaufgedriickt R paulusduns scotusscopus und der vielweiberei der nsterischenmiinsterischen

widertauferwidertaWiderwiderka

r

31the MU

MU

MU

32

geMU

ufertaufer

ater

gazinqazinbazinmagazinmaqazin addressed the seriousconcern which polygamy presented to the protestant missionary

effort in asia and africa the article noted that the

social conditions of people stand in a close organic conne-ction with their religious systems and social norms develop

kramer 132

57

do appear though not in any way a declaration of majoritycan reflect the values of the time A likely explanation isthat educated germans really did not care for a serious debate

about polygamy de facto leaving any deliberations in thehands of sensationalists in none of the press articlesdenouncing mormons perused for this study did the authors lay

any particular weight on the actual nature of the pluralmarriages but rather they recounted improbable stories about

mormon white slavery

the inherent hypocrisy of this attitude particularly in

the period after the unification of germany is belied by the

actual instances of premaritalpre sexmarital adultery and prostitutionwhich existed in germany unfortunately the research for thestudy did not find any statistics which indicated the extent

to which these activities occurred but the literature of thetime offers the inference that these practices flourishedeven among the educated classes 33

while polygamy did not effectively exist in german

society it did flourish in nonchristiannon communitieschristian in1862 the evancrelisches missionsmamissions 0evang lischesfisches ma

33

58

directly from religious values 34 the author places polygamy

on the same undesirable level as slavery and caste barriersinterestingly enough he next asks why current christian mi-ssionaries concern themselves over these issues when the early

apostles simply accepted them the answer he states is thatthe apostles did not have the appreciation of the spirit of

christs message to the same depth that nineteenthcenturynineteenth

christians

century

did further the author asserts that the germanic

peoples germans swiss englishmen and their kin possess a

hegemony of the spirit superior to all others 35 by thesame token the chinese indians and africans would always

play a lesser role in spiritual matters 36

more importantly the author used the zulu custom of

buying wifeslaveswife asslaves his primary example of the degradation

brought on by polygamy focussingfoc onussing the sorry plight of women

under the system rather than whether their misery came from

the multiple marriages similarly when quoting an anglican

denunciation of the practice on the basis of new testament

scripture the author related the practice of divorce and

adultery to polygamy but offers no direct scriptural state-ment saying polygamy falls into either category 37 he fur-

die polygamiepolygamiaPoly undgamie die mission 11 evangelischesevancrelischesEvangeli missionsschesmagazin basel switzerland bahnmaiers buchhandlung 1862237

ibid 238239

ibid 240

ibid 243249 254259254 259

kinpossess

34

35

36

37

sionaries

238 239

243 249

59

ther declared that many people recognized the presence of

polygamy in a new christian community acted as a diseasemortally weakening the spiritual health of new converts 38

the view of the author was that marrying multiple wives

was a sin a reality he felt was recognized by the spirituallysuperior germanic christian cultures once again a general

attitude ought not be drawn from a single article however

the paucity of discussions of the issue in other journals or

newspapers as well as the lack of editorial discretion indi-cates that the authors position was not distasteful to theevangelical missionary population

the mormon position on the other hand leaps to view

A typical attitude prior to the manifesto of 1890 can be

inferred from the responses of george reiser to hamburg

officialsat 11 oclock am of the 18th august 1853 1I was

brought before the magistrate for examination heasked me how I1 came to get into such a difficultyI1 told him it was for preaching what I1 knew to bethe truth

241

9

0 he asked me if we believed in aplurality of wives I1 answered that after thepeople were gathered to zion and had been taughtproper principles and had reduced them to prac-tice if the lord saw fit through his servants togive a man more than one wife we believed it to beright he asked me why we did not believe in aplurality of husbands as well as of wives I1 an-swered that it was not in accordance with the esta-blished laws of nature that it would degeneratemankind and instead of multiplying posteritywould increase disease and deformity that the

ibid38

thenormthenorma

60

object of the institution was the restoration ofman both temporally and spiritually 39

leonard arrington in his analysis of nineteenthcenturynineteenthmormon

century

family values sees the overall pattern of home life as

essentially victorian and consequently in the main stream

of american behavior 40 the essential difference lay in thedoctrine of plural marriage which presented in fact a

drastic departure from the normnorn and was not initially accepted

by the mormon community with any sort of complaisance

arrington notes that the easy suggestion that joseph smithslibido lay at the root of the precept misses both the distur-bing effect which it had on the mormon community as well as

the actual quandaries which must have worried the mormon

prophet such as providing for the female converts who had no

real means of support 41

plural marriage in the mormon setting assumed a normal

acceptable nature preferred to the woes of a single lifestylein a victorian community although american newspapers and

journals adopted a tone similar to the evangelical missionary

author of die polygamiepolygamiaPoly undgamie die mission decrying polygamy as

an abusive exploitation of women the reality lay somewhere in

between life on a frontier was universally hard and the

work hard regardless of whether a woman had to share a

millennial star 166212316621 august23 1853

arrington40arrington 194

ibid 195

39mi llennialglennialllenilenliennial

41

40

61

husband or not some of the families made a valiant and suc-

cessful effort to make the system work while others failedan important element which seems to have been discounted

by the nay sayers was that polygamy among the mormons repre-

sented a religious sacrifice the practice ideally embodied

a privilege of the pure in heart rather than the zulu con-

vention of wife buying 42 the religious nature of the do-ctrine did not lessen the actual burden of the wives or thehusband but it did place it in a framework which could

provide some emotional and social support to the spouses

working out their lives

it is possible that the ideal of polygamy presented a

social and spiritual codification of the imperfect human

responses to emotional and physical drives perhaps the very

ecclesiastical aspect of the mormon marriage formula was what

was so distasteful to the german political and ecclesiasticalleadership religion which was supposed to be raising the

spiritual consciousness of the lower nature of man was

instead capitulating on a visible field of struggle sincevery little was included in official government documents

about the mormonscormonsMor evenmons from the clergy as to the reason why

polygamy was so reprehensible one can only conjecture and

observe that the actual moral condition of the germans was not

such that they as a people could throw stones at the mormon

doctrine of plural marriage

ibid 204 die polygamiepolygamiaPoly undgamie die mission 24525042 245 250

62

none of these observations should be construed as an

argument for or against polygamy but should demonstrate thatwhat the german officials and ecclesiastical community con-

demned had more parameters than they noticeably examined

whether polygamy would flourish in germany presented almost a

moot point except that it seems to be this very concept which

worried the officials of prussia and yet they still did not

defend their attack on the mormon missionaries because of

polygamy but rather an outdated law regulating emigration

in addition to anxiety over mormon encouragement of em-

igration and the impact of polygamy on public morals german

officials worried about the growing influence of the socialdemocratic movement in germany and the possible existence of

socialist sympathies among the american missionaries william

lang the hamburg consul commented

an opinion prevails that leading members of thegerman socialistic party are going to the unitedstates for the purpose of consolidating and moldinginto one solid compact party the german socialistswho have heretofore emigrated there and who arenow acting in a separate and unorganized way A

natural sequence of the unmolested condition of thesocialists in america as compared with their cond-ition in europe and detailed in their letters frombanished laborerscolaborersco in the cause in america isthought to be the leading reason for the largeexodus of socialists from the states of europe tothe united states 43

in order to understand the disquiet of german officialswith regard to the social democracy the background of thistraditionalnontraditionalnon political movement needs to be examined As

consular reportreports 104

0

43

zolzoi 1

8 9gereinverein in

63

the majority of the socialist supporters came from the ranks

of workers in factories and other new industries such as

railroads their arrival in the german political scene began

with the tremendous german industrialization of the last halfof the nineteenth century

germany industrialized later than its internationalrivals britain and france this delay derived in part from

the internal economic barriers which existed between each of

the independent german states these obstacles diminished in

1834 as prussia convinced a number of the northern german

states to join an economic union the zollvereinZollver customseinunion which abolished tariffs between members groh

observes that the dominant international presence of great

britain in industrial textile production encouraged german

industrialization to focus on metal and coal production

boosting interest in railroads the railroads in turndramatically improved communication and transportationbolstering the zollvereinZollver memberein economies 44 the zollvereingerein in conjunction with the new railroads dramatically

hastened the industrialization of germany 45

the rise of new industries in germany did not immediately

generate a workingclassworking consciousnessclass sagarra maintains

that worker social status varied dramatically even in the

groh 450451450

hajo

451

holborn A modern history of germanvgermanygermana 184019451840 new1945york alfred A knopf 1969 1213.1213121312 groh13 452

0

44

45hajo

64

same trade until after 1850 46 it is a historical truism

that social revolutions occur not when a class is so subju-

gated that it can barely survive but rather after its cond-itions begin to improve and expectations rise in the case of

the socialist movement in germany of which social democracy

was one branch popularity and support flourished as the wo-

rkers lot improved a little in the wake of the revolution of

1848 and more noticeably as wages for workers began to

increase after 1863 the working class began to seek for

political and social acknowledgementknowledgementac 47

in 1863 ferdinand lassalle founded a workers politicalparty allgemeinergemeinerAll deutscher arbeiterverband universal german

workers association dedicated to the idea that eventually

society would embrace a democracy of the working man and poli-

tical concerns would be suborned to social needs social dem-

ocracy 48 six years later in 1869 august bebel and william

liebknecht oundedfoundedbounded the sozialdemokratische arbeiterpartelarbeiterparteiArbeiter

social

parteldemocratic workers party as much an antiprussiananti

party

prussian

as it was a forum for the advancement of the working

class these two parties merged in 1875 by which time

sagarra 363

ibid 368

ibid ferdinand lassalle chambers biographicaldictionarydictiodiccio cambridge cambridge university press 1988 797

after

needssocial

f

46

47

48

50karlkari

65

marxist views of revolutionary change had become part of the

socialist program 49

in the period after 1870 germany underwent tremendous

demographic as well as economic change karl born states thatgermany had caught up with britains technological head startin the raw material industries 1150 he further observes thatbetween 1870 and 1913 germany progressed from producing

1700000 tons of iron a year a quarter as much as britainto 19300000 tons of iron almost twice the british produc-

tion 51 during the period from 1850 to 1910 industriali-zation drew the population from the countryside into the

cities the urban populace grew from ten million in 1850

roughly twentyninetwenty percentnine of the german population to fortymillion in 1910 roughly sixtytwosixty percenttwo of the nationalpopulation 52 this migration also had the effect of moving

people from conservative east prussia to the more moderate

rhine region effectively reducing numerical support for the

status quo 53

sagarra 368370368

karl

370

erich born structural changes in german socialand economic development at the end of the nineteenthcentury in imperialImre germanyrial edited and introduced by jamesJ sheehan new york new viewpoints 1987 modernscholarship on european historyHi henrystoKystory A turner generaleditor 17

51 ibidgroh 460

born 24

50

5

49

52

53born 2 4

66

both groh and sagarra point out that these new urban

citizens most of them working class could not count on thecommunity support which typified village life moreover pro-

testant churches in the cities failed to provide social stabi-lity for these internal immigrants 54 in this vacuum the

social democrats reached out and provided help to workers

finding them employment encouraging education and providing

social interaction 55 by meeting the needs of a class other-wise neglected by society the social democrats built up theirpopularity so that by 1877 they received twelve seats in thereichstag with 493000 votes ten percent of the total 56

hajo holborn observes

in contrast to the old parties the social democratparty was not a mere contraption for winning electionsits function was the infusion of communal ideals into itmembers something neither state nor church was capableof doing any longer it broke all sentimental tiesnot only with the institutions of the monarchical statebut also the other parties 57

the development of this attitude posed a direct ideo-

logical threat to the german government chancellor bismarck

responded in 1878 by inducing the imperial reichstag to pass

the harsh socialist law essentially eliminating all legal

groh 474475474 sagarra475 372

sagarra 372

holborn 287 groh 489

holborn 289

11493 j 000ooo 1156

54groh

55sagarra 3 7 2

56holborn56

57

55

67

socialist supports such as clubs newspapers and taverns 58

the law provided for the dissolution of all socialist organi-

zations the banishment of socialists and in imperiled

districts not defined and therefore open to interpretationconvenient for the antisocialistanti governmentsocialist the authoritiesmight suspend the constitutional freedoms of free assembly and

free political speech and even expel any individuals who

might threaten the public peace 59 some social democrats

chose to emigrate rather than suffer these indignities sen-

ding german emigration figures from 29313 emigrants in 1878

to an alltimeall hightime of 250630 emigrants in 1882 60 despitegovernment persecution and loss of emigrated party membership

the social democrats struggled in an underground existence

gradually regaining strength and when the reichstag did not

karl lamprecht deutsche geschichte der ngstentungstenagstenvergangenheit und gegenwarthgegenwartGege berlinnwart weidmannscheWeidmann buchhandbachhandschelung 1913 vol 2 geschichte der innerenfinneren und auberenuberenauburen politikholitikin den siebzigersieb undziger neunzigerneun jahrenziger des 19 jahrhunderts147148

lamprecht also observes that the two assassinationattempts against wilhelm I1 although neither assassin was anactive social democrat gave bismarck the opportunity to rallypublic support against the party because the social democratshad acquired a public reputation as having no scruples inachieving their ends

holborn 287

holborn 288 richard easterlin M perlman and dorothyswaine thomas eds demographic monographs vol 7 interna-tional migrations ed walter wilcox new york gordon andbreach science publishers 1969 422 424

governmentthe

publicalic

58 iua

59holborn60

zat ions

147 148

59

6holborntholborn

68

renew the socialist law in 1890 the party polled 1427298votes in imperial elections 61

the latterdaylatter saintsday while not advocates of socialdemocracy already had a history of alternative socioeconomicsocio

experimentation

economic

from the beginnings of the church with itsinterest in early christianitys communal living the doctrineof consecration and stewardship and the later united ordercommunities in utah the idea of material wealth being a com-

munity rather than a personal possession persisted 62 in

fact in 1875 during the height of german concern about socialdemocratic influence mormon president brigham young encou-

raged the founding of the southern utah united order community

of ordervilledervilleOr 63 the various mormon attempts to build thesecommunities did not have longlastinglong successlasting with ordervilledervilleOr

and other utah united order settlements essentially giving up

their communitarian precepts by the mid 1880s 64

although mormon missionaries in germany advocated a

distinctively mormon viewpoint on early christian values they

did not focus on economic issues other than the doctrine of

holborn 288 lamprecht 149 groh 491

allen and leonard 54 leonard J arrington earlymormon communitarianismunitarianismComm and stewardship western humanitiesreview 7 spring 1953 241.241 leonard J arringtonordervilledervilleOr utah A pioneer mormon experiment in economic

organization utah state agricultural college monogramonographmonogramseries vol 2 logan utah 1954 1

arrington63arrington ordervilledervilleOr 3

allen and leonard 364366364 366

0

62

h

64

63

sozialisozialkozialismus der falschefaltche und der wahrewahrellwahdell derper stern 4181844181 84

615611

represcepresentatenhat ionlon

69

tithing in 1883 however the mission leadership found itnecessary to excommunicate several important southern german

members and disband branches in stuttgart nurnbergrnberganberg eriangenerlangenlangenerlangerErierlEr

and

angen

munich an area where social democracy enjoyed strong

representation with the vague explanation because of the

laws of the land landesgesetze and other relationships 65

later church leaders admitted that local involvement with the

social democrats was one of the reasons for this drasticaction 15666116 in an effort to distance the church from the

social democrats german latterdaylatter saintday leaders published

statements in 1900 and again in 1909 in derper stern discussing

how mormon doctrine adamantly opposed the actions and the

materialistic ideals of the social democrats 67

despite these endeavors to portray themselves as normal

rational people the mormons could not overcome prussian pre-

judice part of the difficulty lay in the distaste which

characterized all the official contacts between mormons and

prussian officials the emigration issue the first matter

which separated them politically and ideologically repre-

sented among other things the coming prussian strugglebetween the paternalistic absolutist government of the past

and the coming constitutionalist future which to a certain

riedel 400401400

ibid

401

f 401

skizzeSk derizze sozialfragesozialfragell derper stern 3223123532231 235

0

NU

munichan

1165

in

65

67

70

extent the american mormons represented the problem of

polygamy struck even deeper into the cultural traditions and

bastions of prussian religious life with all of its legaldefenses admitting the freedom of the mormons to engage inpolygamy on religious grounds threatened the boundaries which

the germans had drawn around their faith and reminded them of

the irrational days of munster with all of the conflict and

excesses finally the political threat to both monarchy and

bourgeois inherent in the social democratic movement even

though the mormons did not support it only deepened thesuspicion of the government towards a religion already tarredwith the stigma of fanaticism these three elements fairlyassured that when prussian officials examined the merits of

mormonism closely they would act with abhorrence rather than

understanding

CHAPTER THREE

187118901871 GROWTH1890 AND interaction

several important developments marked the period between

1871 and 1890 the unification of germany the kulturkampf

the rise of a strong powerful germany in europe the growth

of the latterdaylatter saintday church commonwealth in the american

great basin the continuing worldwide mormon missionary

effort and the negative reaction of the nonmormonnon worldmormon to

the peculiarly mormon doctrines of polygamy and emigration to

utah while the conflict between prussia and the mormon mi-ssionaries during this time did not manifest the same acrimony

as at the turn of the twentieth century both institutionsbegan to develop their positions the prussians through thekulturkampf and the mormons in their fight with the united

states government over polygamy the attitudes manifested in

the course of these conflicts would subsequently affect theiractions at the turn of the century

the prussian victory in the francoprussianfranco warprussian in 1871

laid the groundwork for both the rebuilding of the german

nation and a dramatic shift of power in the internationalpolitical sphere the particularistic divisions of the

vanished holy roman empire often played off against each

other in the past no longer dominated central europe in its71

sionaries

72

place a new german state dominated by militaristic prussia

struggled to achieve a significant role among the greateuropean powers at the head of this enfant terrible stood

the determined iron chancellor otto von bismarck hisdriving ambition to solidify the new nation regardless of therequired sacrifice set the tone for his administration

unification prompted a euphoric spirit among the majority

of germans an attitude reflected in the hectic economy

between 1871 and 1873 known as the griinderj ahre foundationyears new business ventures including railroads and banks

multiplied on the german stock market in october 1873 how-

ever this growth collapsed and as hajo holborn explains

wrecked the majority of the newly founded companies ruining

thousands of fortunes and lives 1 the stock market crash

ushered in a period of slower economic growth which lasted fortwenty years the end of this breakneck expansion did not

however spell financial doom for average germans prices

remained low wages rose slightly and unemployment stayed in

check during the entire period german economic power

therefore continued to grow but more slowly eclipsing othereuropean nations much later than it would had the grunderjgrunderbGrunde ahrerjcontinued unabated

meanwhile international politics changed as new playersparticularly the german empire a rising united states and

japan fought for their share of influence austriahungarysaustriahungaryaustria

olbornholborn

hungaryshungary

380381380 381

grunderjahre

grunderiahre

f s

GrUnderjahre

73

role declined especially after its defeat at prussias hands

in 1866 but its gradual expansion into the balkans heralded

future conflict especially with russia britain and francecompeted for dominance of new colonialism and russiacontinued its internal colonization activities the german

and american economies expanded poaching on british merca-

ntile and industrial preeminence and the subjugation of china

by the western colonial powers continued apace neitherfrance nor britain desired the growth of german and american

power and both were loathe to make room for the newcomers

bismarcks distinctive power diplomacy flourished in thiscompetitive era his diplomatic policies isolated france

placated russia supported britains complacency and overawed

austria in his relations with the german emperor wilhelm I1

of prussia nominally that of servant bismarck actuallyeclipsed his master until wilhelm Is death in 1888 the

chancellor wielded an overpowering authority both in prussia

and the german empire

throughout the twenty years of his ascendancy no evi-

dence exists to indicate that bismarck ever seriously con-

cerned himself with the mormon presence in germany 2 he had

more serious matters to worry about however in his drive to

he one indication that he was even knew about mormonscomes from an note written by the german ambassador toswitzerland with a copy of the 1887 decision by swiss juristsin the loosli polygamy case discussed later in the chaptereven the existence of the note does not mean that bismarckpaid any attention to the matter see actaadaaaa der mormonenMor betrbearmonenabschriftschriftAb der kaiserlichKai gesandtschaftserlich no 49

for

britishibish

polic iesles

the

casediscussed

kulkuiturkampfkulturkampftur 5kampf even after the attempt had been abandoned

as unproductive he demonstrated no interest in the ideologiideology

bid3ibidbibid4grohzgroh

74

eliminate competition for loyalty to the new state the cha-ncellor unleashed a program against german catholicism which

clearly demonstrated how ruthless and unrelenting the newly

unified germany could be when confronted with a choice between

loyalty to the new nation and religious libertyin an effort to break what he considered to be the emer-

ging political power of the catholic germans and counter the

threat of a resurgent vatican bismarck and his anticlericalantinational

clericalliberal allies produced a series of legislative

actions designed to cripple the catholic impact on national

life particularly in the areas of education and public

speaking 3 A liberal lawmaker appropriated the term kulturk-

ampf or fight for civilization to describe the goal of

realigning the german culture with protestant values 4

the kulturkampf had its roots in bismarcks efforts tounify the nation ecclesiastically as well as politicallyhajo holborn maintains that bismarck never understood the

spiritual power of the major churches seeing them only as

centers of political control and that this narrow viewpoint

prompted the immoderate and ultimately unsuccessful actions of

the

261264 nichols 223

roh 410

holborn 265

cho ice

vatican

261 264

8grohzgroh

75

cal or religious side of the struggle 6 indicative of hisperception bismarck appointed a new minister of religious

affairs the anticlericalanti adalbertclerical falk falk perceived hisduty as a commission to restructure the legal positions of

church and state in such a way that the church could not chal-lenge the state in matters of education or public loyalty 7

the german public saw it differently john E groh in

his study of german protestant social viewslews during the nine-

teenth century observes

the francoprussianfranco warprussian and reunification gave germanprotestants the chance to validate in a religious waythe revolution von oben from above that had beenunderway for some time it was now the churchesresponsibility 0 to lend moral support to conserva-tive nationalism 8

the drive for a national church to go with the new nation had

begun only one third of the germanspeakinggerman populationspeaking with

the exclusion of the austriansAust professedrians catholicism 9 As

the majority moreover of bismarcks external foes in 1871

61 so far as im concerned the course of our kulturk-ampf policy was determined not by religious considerationsbut purely by the desire to establish as firmly as possiblethe unity won on the battlefield herman von petersdorff etal eds bismarck die gesammelte werke berlin 192435192415332

35cited in ronald J ross enforcing the kulturkampf in

the bismarckian state and the limits of coercion in imperialgermany the journal of modern history sept 1984 56458

7groh7grohfzgroh 410 the minister of religious affairs alsohandled educational concerns

roh 370

thomas nipperdeyNipp deutscheerdey geschichte 186619181866 volume19182 machtstaatMacht vorstaat der demokratieDemok nchenmunchenachenratie verlag chbeckcheeckCH19

Beck361

commission

v

6s0

MU

76

particularly france and austria hungary embraced catholicism

the choice of a protestant national church was no surprisesurprise0 010

it would be a mistake however to view the kulturkampf

of the 1870s as an isolated political struggle othernations notably france and austria hungary had also experi-

enced a reaction to papal influence particularly in response

to the syllabus of errors and the declaration of papal infa-llibility in 1870 ideally a modern nation took a neutralposition preventing any form of public or semipublicsemi mon-

opoly

public

of belief 11 in the case of bismarcks government thereality fell somewhere in between total control and truedisinterest

the imperial german government began the offensiveagainst catholic influence by expelling the influential and

independent society of jesus the jesuits in july 1872 12

while this action experienced great public popularity theproceedings deprived the jesuits of legal rights including

due process guaranteesguaran basedteest not on their personal actionsbut solely on membership in an order which the government did

not want in germany 13 this same attitude would resurface a

nichols 223

nipperdeyttnipperdey 361

groh 412

ellen lovell evans the german center party 187019331870carbondale

1933illinois southern illinois university press

1981 61

jesusthe jesuitsin

12

13

libi lity

Nipperdey

expulsexpulse ionlon

77

quarter of a century later when officials deliberated themormon question

As noted earlier however local and national german cul-

ture exercised less care keeping the role of the church sepa-

rate from political authority nipperdeyNipp remarkserdey

the state financed the church it collaborated inthe placement of bishops and demanded supervision of manyof their activities the catholic church on theother hand desired to be and remain the determiningpower publicly and socially 14

the governments response to this challenge came in the

form of the 1873 may laws and in 1874 the expulsion law

while the may laws enhanced the states legal superiority to

churches requiring priesthood aspirants to pass culturalexaminations assuming power to disallow church nominations

reducing church disciplinary authority and making departure

from a denomination easier their actual impact depended on

ecclesiastical willingness to submit to politicalauthority 15 ironically easing the restrictions for

leaving a congregation hurt the protestant denominations farmore than the catholics 16 the expulsion law on the other

hand actually permitted the government to banish clergy who

failed to comply with the may laws while the government

applied the stricture to only 257 offending priests throughout

nipperdeyNipp 365erdey

ross 460461460

evans

461

64

14

15

16

rdenaden

78

germany 17 its use against agents of a major religion hints atthe predisposition of zealous government officials to elimi-nate irritants rather than provide some latitude for theirpoint of view

very little was too sacred to be sacrificed for the cause

of national unity even the prussian constitution lost the

three articles guaranteeing the privilege of churches to

handle internal matters such as discipline without stateinterference and access of clergy to their ecclesiasticalleaders 18 even personal dignity suffered holborn notes

that a large portion of the german catholic population

experienced unjustified humiliations and persecutions and

vilifications as enemies of the empire 19

the kulturkampf also uncovered a different element of a

religionstatereligion conflictstate the tendency of the persecuted group

to flout the law in order to fulfill religious responsibili-

ties the banished priest would usually come home without

government authorization to minister to his flock and they

would protect him in return one west prussian clericsecretly came back before his term of exile ended and per-

formed his local functions for two years without getting

1 ntheruntheranther dettmer die ost und westpreubischenwestpreufiischen verwalberwaltunqsbehorden im kulturkamidfkulturkampf heidelberg 1958 cited in ross462

robinson18robinson 29 see note 18 in chapter one

holborn 265

1119

in

17GUtungsbeho

19holborn

18

19

anther

79

caught 20 while it would be inaccurate to draw an exact paral-

lel between the roles of a parish priest and a mormon mission-

ary it is interesting that a major christian denomination

during a period of harassment decided to engage in civil dis-obedience in order to discharge spiritual duties just as the

missionaries and the german latterdaylatter saintsday later did

jefferycry anderson in his study of mormon struggles in weimar

germany has demonstrated that the latterdaylatter saintday membership

in germany grew prior to world war I1 in spite of emigration

banishment and police persecution 21

in the final analysis the drive to weaken and isolatethe german catholic hierarchy backfiredback thefired growth of thenewlyfoundednewly centerfounded party primarily representing catholic

interests rather than liberal or conservative politics in

concert with increased conservative party strength contri-buted to the decline of the national liberal party which had

actively advocated the kulturkampf 22 in fact the strength

of the center party made it the chief support of bismarcks

later legislative coalitionsthe analogy between the events of the 1870s and later

mormongermanmormon misfortunesgerman should not be stretched too far

ross 46621 jefferycry anderson mormonscormonsMor andmons germany 191419331914 A1933

history of the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday ingermany and its relationship with the german governments fromworld war I1 to the rise of hitler thesis project brighamyoung university 1991 214

holborn 259260259 266260

jeffery

20

jeffery

22

80

the kulturkampf had deep political and international underpin-

nings while the mormon problem occurred often more as a localpoliceclericalpolice difficultyclerical 23 government interactions dif-fered the reichstag debated every piece of kulturkampf legis-lation intensely while a reichstag discussion of the mormon

issue does not exist in other areas such as national sec-urity and the threats perceived by bismarck and the liberalparty the latterdaylatter saintday presence does not even registernor should it the examination of the kulturkampf clearlydemonstrated however the extent to which the imperial and

prussian governments would go to accomplish their ends the

kind of actions they would take and the underlying attitudewhich would motivate them

in the midst of the german political struggle during the1870s to suborn the catholic church the mormons quietlyincreased their own modest but vigorous missionary effortprior to this time despite karl G maesers successful labors

in southern germany the main focus of germanspeakinggerman mis-

sionary

speaking

work lay in switzerland in the summer of 1875 how-

ever this attitude began changing european mission

president joseph F smith a member of the churchs firstpresidency the paramount latterdaylatter saintday ruling body deter

although a portion of the difficulties surrounding the1902031902 banishment03 decrees also had internationalramifications since the exiled missionaries had americancitizenship and appealed to their embassy for assistance thekulturkampf struggle mirrored activities in other nationsfrance and austria as the best examples

0

23

ndungneung

81

mined that waiting for government consent to exercise thereligious freedoms promised in the constitutions of the german

principalities was unproductive in june 1875 he declared

hereafter the elders will not stop to ask permission ofthe authorities of germany to preach the gospel there butthey will go and do it the lord helping them and openingthe way the law gives them the legal right and ifdenied by the bigotry of priests or rulers contrary tothe law they will claim it at the hand of god for it isHIS WORK 24

his comments may reflect the latterdaylatter saintsday growing sense

of security as the church had remained in utah for the lasttwentyseventwenty yearsseven without being driven out in spite of the

utah war of 1857 it might also have come in response to a

visit he made to the swissgermanswiss missiongerman in early june 2521

regardless smiths declaration opened a new era in missionary

efforts among the germanspeakinggerman peoplespeaking and its most populous

state prussia

the new demarche did not reap a large harvest of con-

verts but the mormon elders did find a few souls mission-

aries baptized fourteen new german members in 1875 where

during the previous five years earlier records showed that no

one joinedcoined the church 26 this slow start owed much to old

governmental prejudices henry eyring attempting to gain

millennial star 37394 italics in original textalbert S riedel die geschichte der deutschsprachideutschsprachicren

missionenmissionerMissi deronen kirche jesu christi der heilicfenheiliqen der letztenletztertagetacie von der grundunq bis 1900 salt lake city utahservice press 1971 338

der stern annual statistics cited in jeffery Landerson mormons and germany thesis july 1991 210

0 oined

24mi 1lennialglennial25

gru

26Der ger

82

recognition for the church in the more liberal western stateof baden suffered banishment that same year on the twin

charges of inciting emigration and preaching polygamy 2721 one

elder blamed the low rate of conversions on the selfsatisfiedselfattitude

satisfiedof the germans in the wake of the defeat of france

and the formation of the new empire 28 subsequent years saw

a rise in conversions during the time of economic hardship

peaking in 1882 with 221 baptisms and receding below a

hundred a year by the late 1880s 29

latterdaylatter saintday experiences during the period however

were not universally grim mormon success during 1876 in

ludwigshafenLudwigs motivatedhafen a disgruntled individual to complain to

the local authorities the police visited the mission presi-

dent john stucki to judge the situation stucki who

earlier that year had suffered from police intolerance in

switzerland received polite and openmindedopen treatmentminded a farcry from the troubles in hamburg and prussia in the 1850s 30

police officials in berlin even acceded to the formation of a

congregation in berlin in 1876 31

the distaste with which the german hierarchy viewed themormons stemmed in part from the attitude of the united

riedel 334335334

millennial28millennial

335

star 40603 september 1878

anderson 210

riedel30riedel 348350348

ibid

350

353

suf fered

in

27

29anderson

311bid

28

29

30

83

states government towards the latterdaylatter saintsday whilecongress had passed the antibigamyanti actbigamy in 1862 it was unen-

forceable due to the civil war and later because of mormon

control of local courts to rectify that loophole congress

then passed the poland act in 1874 which transferred controlof the courts to federal officials in order to test theconstitutionality of these statutes latterdaylatter saintday church

leaders convinced george reynolds to surrender to federalmarshals with clear evidence of his violations because of

local judicial difficulties the case was not tried until1879 and then appealed the united states supreme court

subsequently upheld the antibigamyanti actbigamy to the shock of themormon community and reynolds was incarcerated 3212

in addition to the growing number of punitive laws and

actions which the american government pursued during the anti-polygamy drive the state department in 1878 sent a circularto all diplomats serving abroad addressing the mormon mission-

ary work in it secretary of state william evarts condemned

the immigration policy of the church as an effort to swell

the numbers of lawdefyinglaw mormonscormonsMordefying 33mons he designed the note

to play upon the fears of nations where mormons had missions

by characterizing the missionaries as being particularly

allen and leonard 356358356

paderspaperspavers358

relating to foreign relations washingtongovernment printing office 1879 hereafter foreignrelations 1 no 10 12

32

33

84

active especially in and then leaving a blank space for theembassy to fill in the name of the host country the circularalso described new converts as victims of latterdaylatter saintday

deception 34

after citing the specific federal law prohibiting bigamy

evarts urged the various american diplomatic officers to fur-

ther represent the issue as a matter of moral concern as well

as a diplomatic matter as the mormons were involved in deli-berate and systematic attempt to bring persons to the united

states with the intent of violating their laws 35 thediplomats received additional encouragement to find and callto the attention of their hosts appropriate antibigamyantilegislation

bigamy

local cases at hand and to use the public press

to carry out the attack on latterdaylatter saintday missions 36 thediplomats were expected to leave no stone unturned in the

effort to halt mormon growth

the efficacy of the circular remains doubtful particu-larly in america and britain where the newspapers roundly

denounced its foolishness 37 the files of various german

states on mormon matters including prussia and saxony

preserve no record of this circular or any reference to

ibid 11

ibid f 12

ibidbrigham H roberts comprehensive history of the church

vol 5 salt lake city utah deseret news press 1930 552-553

34

35

36

37

85

diplomatic conversations on the topic of mormon emigration or

polygamy during this period german accusations against mi-ssionaries after 1879 however tended to focus much more on

polygamy and other moral issues than the emigration concern of

earlier decades

hence from that date until after the manifesto of 1890

american missionaries in germany and elsewhere obtained no

help from american consuls or diplomats on the contrary inresponse to the expulsion from bavaria of several mission-

aries the local american consul wrote a note to convey the

thanks of the government at washington for discouragingmormon missionary work more particularly the spread of poly-

gamy which violates alike the usages of christian civili-zation and the provisions of american law 38 no statedepartment response appeared to condemn his actions

in the year following the evarts circular earlier mormon

missionary success underwent a reversal ludwigshafenLudwigs clergyhafen

contacted police officials in neighboring mannheim and suc-

ceeded in excluding mormon missionaries from working in thecity 39 the officials in mannheim justified their actions on

the expulsion order of henry eyring 40 later that year

berlin officials reversed their earlier stance of benign

paderspapers relating to foreign relations governmentprinting office washington DC 1885 198206198

millennial206

star 42343 may 15 1880

riedel40riedel 379

0

38

39mil lennialdennial

sionaries

40

nfeldafeld

86

neglect and banished the missionaries from the city 41 inspite of these problems the number of mormon emigrants did

not go above twentysixtwenty asix year until 1886 42

american attitudes about polygamy and the mormons did not

improve in 1882 congress passed the edmunds act stipula-ting a 500 fine and a prison term of up to five years foreither polygamy marrying more than one wife or unlawful

cohabitation supporting more than one household the act

also disenfranchised all polygamists and set up a new commi-

ssion to oversee voter registration as well as all elections in

utah territory 43 with real power to hold the polygamists

federal marshals and deputies began to hunt down local and

general church leadersshortly after the implementation of the american measures

began german surveillance of mormon missionaries increasedAs noted earlier president john Q cannon had dissolved

several branches in southern german states in 1883 because of

ties to the social democrats two years later when mission

president fred schonfeld visited the berlin elders in april1885 city police officials nearly succeeding in arrestinghim rumors had circulated linking the american mormons with

the social democratic movement and the police explained thatthey wanted him to clarify the relationship between the

millennialllennialglennial star 42 557 august 21 1880

anderson 210

allen and leonard 394

0

polygamymarrying wifeorcohabitationsupporting

scho

41mi llenilenliennial42

43

87

latterdaylatter saintsday and the german americans who were agitatingfor the recognition of the social democrats in germany 44

even work in southwestern germany earlier a more fertileregion became difficult

the best example of this increased official noticeoccurred in the case of thomas biesinger who had leftrnbergniirnbergniernberganberg in may 1885 for munich to avoid police persecution

when he arrived in bavaria the local police attempted to expel

him but he responded that their persecutions were intolerableand unsubstantiable and should be stopped the policemen apo-

logized and left biesinger received a banishment order two

months later dated a week after the earlier encounter and he

again determined to contest the ruling A local police offi-cial baron von freilitzsch received him and affirmed thevalidity of the order on the basis that biesinger was a mormon

missionary biesinger responded that the charge could not be

confirmed von freilitzsch in turn named all of biesingersactivities for the past two years including his 1883 mission-

ary call from president john taylor his arrest in austria forproselyting and his recent work in rnbergnurnberganberg biesinger con-

ceded the accuracy of the police report and left 45

at roughly the same time the prussian police files on

the mormons began to expand after a thirtyyearthirty hiatusyear among

the first materials for 1884 appear a pair of articles by a

riedel 428

ibid 428430

NU

NU

9

44

45 428 430

88

herr melzer in a berlin daily newspaper neueste mittheilungenangen dated january 24 and 26 the articles reported thegrowth of mormon influence in the western united states the

first article discussed several notions with questionableaccuracy including the failure of womens suffrage in utah to

limit polygamy the positive community spirit of mormon set-tlements the improper use of tithing funds by church leadersand the growth of mormon communities in arizona as a bridge to

the mormon polygamous colonies in mexico

although grudgingly recognizing beneficial elements of

mormonism and mormon colonizing achievement like most german

authors melzer generally disapproved of the latterdaylattersaints

day

in the january 26 article he lambasted the mormons

for their encouragement of emigration and asserted that church

authorities cunningly acclimated european emigrants by allow-

ing them to reside in the more civilized regions of utah

before sending them elsewhere as the shock of arizonas aridlands would drive them away melzer also accused the highest

church officials of holding women in common as bed partners

citing local protestant clergy as his reliable sources of

information he described the wifeswappingwife asswapping one of thereligious mysteries of mormonism an allusion to thecovenants undertaken by latterdaylatter saintsday in their temples

further he misconstrued the mormon reverence of thebible as the word of god as far as it is translated cor-

rectly to mean that to mormons the scripture had validity

un 0

in

far

tlements

89

only where it agreed with the doctrine of polygamy he alsoinferred that the book of mormon advocated polygamy a palpa-

ble falsehood indicating how little he had actually tested the

various bits of gossip which he passed on he finished by

predicting that the mormons would eventually leave utah and

move to sonora mexico to preserve their church and do-ctrines 46 while melzers tales are entertaining at best and

libellousbellouslirellousli at worst no other description of mormons in utahappear in the prussian police files until 1907 giving hisanecdotes an authority among prussian officials which they

hardly merited

matters did not improve for the latterdaylatter saintsday as the

decade drew to a close albert riedel in his uncriticalchronology of the germanspeakinggerman mormonspeaking missions observed

that 1886 was a year of great unpleasantness for the mission

and the utah church 47 in 1887 a law in the united states and

a court case in switzerland appeared which curtailed mormon

freedom of action in both places as long as the church

continued to practice plural marriage

in spite of the sweeping disenfranchisement and arrestsof prominent mormon leaders under the edmunds act the united

states congress sought new measures to finally eliminate thepractice of polygamy on american soil to that end the 1887

A L melzer die ausbreitungbreitungAus der mormonenMor inmonen nordamerika neueste mittheilungenmittheilunqen berlin dr klee 1884january 24 26 1884 3

riedel 433

46

26f 1884f47

wivesvives

90

edmundstuckeredmunds acttucker attacked the public corporation of the

latterdaylatter saintsday on political and economic grounds 48 thegovernment seized all church assets even the religiouslysignificant temples emptied and terminated the perpetual

emigration fund set up to assist immigration to utah and

ended the churchs legal corporate status prosecution of

polygamy and unlawful cohabitation trials could now require

witnesses to attend and wivesvives to testify against theirhusbands the final restrictions of the law further narrowed

franchise rights to those who took an oath to comply with

antipolygamyanti statutespolygamy and placed schools under federaljurisdiction 4941

in zofingenfingenZo aargau switzerland johann kaspar looslia naturalized american citizen who also continued to enjoy

swiss citizenship appealed an 1886 lower court decision which

denied mormonscormonsMor onmons the grounds of public immorality the rightto practice their religion in switzerland loosli maintained

4

that he had taken great care as a missionary to stay within

swiss law by avoiding discussion or practice of the doctrineof plural marriage as well as making no overt effort toencourage emigration to the united states

when brought into court to answer the charge of offen-ding public morals loosli faced more charges of hypocrisy

and public deception because he refrained from preaching

allen and leonard 406

ibid 404407

48

49 404 407

915011509950

91

polygamy and emigration adding insult to injury the presi-ding magistrates also referred to a letter from someone they

termed a reputable source which accused the mormons of

deceiving swiss women by converting them without informing

them of the existence of mormon polygamy then influencing

them to emigrate to a land where polygamy held sway and

forcing them into a miserable slavery 50 finally the court

argued that the mormons sought to escape public censure by

holding meetings in private homes

basing his appeal on the swiss constitutional rights of

freedom of religion articlearticie 49 free expression of opinion

article 50 and freedom of association articlearticie 56 loosliargued that polygamy even in utah was a voluntary practicenot required of everyone he disagreed with the contention

that not discussing polygamy was deceitful but argued ratherthat he was trying to comply with swiss laws governing moral

behavior to the last charge he replied that mormons had

nowhere else to meet he insisted that despite allconstitutional assurances there is nowhere else that theappellant and his swiss religionistscoreligionistsco were permitted topractice their religionrelireil 51gioni

after considering both presentations on october 7 1887

the swiss confederation council decided against loosli and

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen bundesrathbeschluss 7 october1887 74

ibid 75

religionarticle 49free50and associationarticle

1151

50

51

92

consequently against mormons in switzerland while articles49 and 50 worked together to assure the diversity and freedom

of opinion these statutes were the magistrates reasoned

limited by the concerns of public morality moreover since

loosli was a citizen of utah and a missionary no doubt

existed on the council that he acted to benefit the mormon

church which included supporting its doctrines therefore itdid not matter if he discussed emigration or not the idea was

implicit in his attempts to convert people the council

agreed with the lower court that avoiding discussion of poly-

gamy and emigration constituted public deception finally to

clinch the argument that loosli was duplicitous it quoted a

passage received of a letter from a representative of a

foreign power to the swiss consul in san francisco which

described the lot of a hundred swiss immigrants to utah as

truly pitiable 52 in consequence the council determined thatmormons did not qualify as a religious association and thus

ibid 77 their reasoning is strained here since hedid not actively promote emigration nor was there anydeputation that loosli had told swiss converts that utah wasa paradise he may have done so but the court cites noevidence to that effect in its opinion

the quote describing the miserable condition of swissemigrants has substantially the same message and writing styleas that of an article sent to a dresden newspaper by anevangelical pastor named zimmer who had gone to salt lake cityostensibly to administer to the needs of lutheransLuth buterans whohad focussed on revealing the abuses of mormonscormonsMor especiallymonsagainst germanspeakinggerman emigrantsspeaking even as an ordainedlutheran minister zimmers status hardly ranked as arepresentative of a foreign power

52

kulkuiturkampfkulturkampftur hadkampf long

since retreated american diplomats acted against mormons and

mormon baptisms in germany had retreated from their 1882 peak

of two hundred twentyonetwenty toone fiftysevenfifty inseven 1886 so the

ambassadors motives for forwarding the decision to bismarck

remain unclear the idea that public moral concerns out-

weighed constitutional rights now however had an interna-

tional precedent which german legal theorists could and did

use 55

in 1890 bismarcks tenure as imperial german chancellor

and prussian ministerpresidentminister andpresident foreign minister abruptlycame to an end in 1888 wilhelm I1 died three months later

ibid 1 78

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen

93

were not protected by the provisions of the swiss constitu-

tion 53

the german ambassador to switzerland sent a copy of thisdecision to chancellor bismarck preceded by a personal mem-

orandum the diplomat called the wording of the decision to

bismarcks attention suggesting that the decision of the

court might be of some value in dealing with german sects 54

he specifically noted the swiss perspective placing public

morals above constitutional rights inferring that such an

idea might be useful in germany the

3

53ibid54

55

Ababschriftschrift kaiserlichKai deutscheserlichgesandschaft no 49 4 november 1887

ibid

53

lawrlawl

94

his son and successor friedrich III111ili succumbed to throatcancer leaving the young wilhelm II11 as german emperor

wilhelm II11 only twentyninetwenty atnine the time was not the

ideal ruler lacking patience and depth of understanding theinexperienced emperor would not submit to bismarcks domin-

ation nor did the two strong personalities get along A year

and a half after wilhelm IIs coronation he releasedbismarck installing general caprivicaprisi as imperial chancel-

lor 56 germany which took its mood from its supreme execu-

tive embarked on a new era of global expansion and drive toachieve international respect religious tolerance would not

be a hallmark of this new reign any more than it had been of

the previous era

meanwhile the issues of the legality of the edmunds

tucker law had been settled by the united states supreme

court in 1890 the justices voted to uphold the constitu-tional basis of the law substantiating the validity of enfor-cing its requirements now the latterdaylatter saintsday faced thechallenge of either upholding their unique and challenged

doctrine or surviving the economic and political annihilationof their utah community it was at this point that president

wilford woodruff of the first presidency took the step which

eventually brought about the cessation of polygamy among themormonscormonsMor 57mons

holborn 290291290

allen

291

and leonard 410415410 415

56

57

CHAPTER FOUR

189019021890 postmanifestoPOST1902 TENSIONSMANIFESTO

in september 1890 president wilford woodruff of the

church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday produced a docu-

ment ratified later that year at the semiannualsemi conferenceannual

of the church expressly advising the membership to comply

with the national laws forbidding polygamy regardless of the

motives or opinions of the people affected by this policy or

those of the individuals involved in the american anti poly

gamy crusade the manifesto as the document became known

marks a turning point in mormon history from that time on-

ward the relationship between the latterdaylatter saintsday and theunited states government began to improve rigorous officialefforts to prosecute polygamists tapered off and united

states diplomatic personnel began to no longer treat as pariahsas the mormon missionaries who worked overseas this posi-

tive trend in mormongovernmentalmormon relationsgovernmental did not immed-

iately progress beyond the boundaries of the united statesinstead the years between 1890 and 1902 marked a time of

escalation in the already tense relationship between thepowerful prussian government and the mormon missionaries

the year 1890 stands also as something of a pivotal date

for prussia and germany and germanamericangerman relationsamerican as

95

for

2ibidbibid

96

well after having forged a nation and served under two

emperors bismarck found himself at odds with and then

dismissed by the third german emperor wilhelm II11 in

bismarcks place wilhelm II11 selected general leo von caprivicaprisias imperial chancellor but began to take more control of

foreign and domestic policy into his own hands the chiefdanger which arose from wilhelm IIs intervention derived from

his personality which in public circumstances manifested

itself as charming and persuasive but equally abrupt selfassured and brutal 1 also he pursued governmental actionsby impulsive personal decision rather than in concert with

his chancellors and ministers 2 the result of this dramatic

change in control of government policy eventually soured

germanamericangerman relationsamerican a association which president

benjaminbenamin harrison described at the time as having been tradi-tionally friendly 3

one of the decisive factors in the decline of german

american cooperation can be found in the determination of

caprivicaprisi to achieve the economic independence of europe from

america 4 to reach that end he renegotiated several comme-

rcial treaties risking the chance of alienating the united

tj C G rohlrohi germany without bismarck berkeley cali-fornia university of california press 1967 272927

bid

29

277279277

nelnerseinerneiner279

pommerin derper kaiser und amerika vienna bohlaubahlauverlag 1986 24

bid 26

after f nat ionlon

0

ROhl

BOhlau

41bid f

tionally

blau

doctridoctori0 ne

5ibidbibid f 41

6diplomaticdiplomatic patchesdespatchesdispatchesDes white to hay no 518 no date1898

97

states he told a reichstag assembly in 1891 it is not

unlikely that between competing imperialistic states a

form of warfare will arrive where shots will not be firedbut the combatants will have tariffs in their hands 5

since both germany and america had become imperialist nations

in the second half of the nineteenth century this statement

applied to the united states as much as to the existing colo-

nial powers france britain and russiapublic relations between germany and america also experi-

enced a downturn due in part to the nature of sensationaljournalism in both countries the rhetoric became so viru-lent that in 1898 ambassador andrew D white felt compelled

to explain the situation to the state department he listedseveral causes which contributed to the altercation including

american economic protectionist policies maintenance of themonroe doctrine increasing american productivity the percep-

tion of america by germans as a lawless nation and americaspolitical diversity 6

additionally the press of both nations made mattersworse by calumnifying each other in the daily newspapers

when white requested some journalists to stick to the factsthey reportedly told him that newspapers on either side felt

bid

seriesserles

7ibidbibid

8mormonen

98

that articles which did not go beyond the facts would get the

sales which competitors who embellished commanded 7

in the same vein the educated german classes those who

wielded social power and determined conventional wisdom in a

classriddenclass societyridden on the whole had not gained any respect

for the mormons during the years that missionaries had

actively worked in the country the 1895 brockhaus konversaconversa

tionseions lexikonlexicon a barometer of general german intellectualattitudes treated the latterdaylatter saintsday as a laughable col-

lection of fools who had the socially unacceptable habit of

polygamy unlike the 1853 edition which had treated mormon

history and doctrine as exotic but interesting the laterentry referred to the book of mormon as a seriesserles of nonse-nsical fables fairy tales about the immigration of the patri-archs to north america unsinnigersinnigerun fabein berlibertiberU die einwanderleinwander

ung der patriarchenPatriarchpatriarched in nordamerikaNord 11amerika as well as the unlikely

history of the nephitesNep andhites lamanitesLama 8nites further the articleaccepted the solomon spaulding theory of the origin of thebook of mormon and leaned heavily on the opinionated works of

moritz busch D T fernhagelFern andhagel robert von schlagentweit

interestingly enough the article cited 1843 as the date when

bidmormonenMor brockhausmonen konversationsconversations lexikonlexicon berlin

FA brockhaus 1895 10

patr larchenen

9ibidbibid

10mormonen

99

joseph smith received the revelation initiating polygamy but

made no value judgementjud aboutgement the practice 9

an interesting counterpoint to the brockhaus perspective

appeared in the 1893 edition of the catholic encyclopedia

wetzer und weltersweitersweites kirchenlexikon the article mormonenimormonenMorIMor

painted

monen

the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday as a

pantheistic reaction to the emotionless rationalist protest-

ant movement the book of the mormonscormonsMor didmons not devolve from

the solomon spaulding manuscript but came from joseph smithsinventiveness smith derived his ideas from wesleyan meth-odist fantasy the article went on to describe the mormon

justification of polygamy as obedience to a divine injunction

for church growth also the author noted that mormonism

claimed to be the only church authorized to perform the ritesof baptism the research for the article differed from thebrockhaus entry in its use of american sources bancroftshistory of utah 1889 and george A smiths rise progress

and travels of the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter davday saints1869 and its more objective tone of course the article

does not advocate submitting to the mormon propaganda 10

while not recommending the latterdaylatter saintday form of

christianity the catholic article tended toward a more even

bidmormonenMor wetzermonennonen und welteswelteweitesweitebeltes kirchenlexikon freiberg

in breisgauBreis badengau herderscheherderischeHerdeHerd buchhandlungerscherIsche 1893 1923-1927

in

1869and1110

s

100

handed factualactual discussion than the denominationalnondenominationalnon

intellectual brockhaus

meanwhile the utah mormon community began to comply with

federal antipolygamyanti mandatespolygamy woodruffs manifesto did not

end new polygamous marriages among the general church leader-ship nor yet among the local members the language of themanifesto was conciliatory and non binding he advised co-mpliance rather than commanding obedience to the new instruc-tion several members of the quorum of the twelve apostlesremained undecided on the issue while three john W taylorabraham 0 woodruff and matthias cowley stood firmly on theside of preserving the principle 11 although president

woodruff stated in 1891 that the manifesto had worldwide

application the general church still viewed the document as

policy rather than scripture 12 during the period between thedeclaration of the manifesto and the turn of the century thenumber of polygamous marriages actually increased from thepreceding decade 13

the place of plural marriage in mormon doctrine at thistime had not been completely formulated in the sense thatcontinuation of the practice occurred but no longer receivedunqualified advocacy from the general church leadership

several years were to transpire before a general cessation

alexander 62

ibid 61

ibid 62

f

12

13

pliance

historbistor r

101

resulted and even at that point a sense of the loss of a

precious opportunity permeated this transitional era theamerican nation however would not tolerate any marriage

practices which deviated from the victorian mindsetmindret of the

late nineteenth century enforcing this attitude by law where

necessary

an 1892 boston monday lecture presented by john cook

underscored this determination 14 addressing the efforts ofmormon leadership to achieve statehood for utah he stated

mormonscormonsMor actmons under priestly control polygamy is notabandoned the mormon church publications contain thenames of books that advise and champion polygamyprecisely as heretofore mormon hymnbooks yet eulogizesocial pollution 15

cook continued his invective accusing mormon representa-

tives who had come to washington seeking statehood with the

intent of building a state permitting polygamy in spite of

their assertions that the church no longer advocated the

doctrine his rhetoric indicated that he did not considermormons as americans citing the election returns where mormon

voters were outvoted by a great majority of americans in

utah and conveniently ignoring the provision of the edmunds

john cook mormonism immigration sunday newspapersour day vol 11 1893 39 the boston monday lectures weredelivered by john cook in a forum organized by multidenominational protestant clergy brigham H roberts con-siders cook to be among the most radical opponents ofmormonism in his time A comprehensive history of the church ofjesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday 5557

ibid 40

14

15f

alienailengailegalieballe

102

tucker act which removed the franchise from polygamists 16 he

advocated a educationreeducationre missionary drive to reclaim the statefrom the latter day swindle and in the next breath advocated

keeping out mormon european emigrants to prevent furthermormon growth in utah 17

while cooks choice of words bordered on the inflam-

matory his feelings reflected public american outrage

several other opinion shapers including national magazines

offered similar comments 18 in the meantime however the

efforts to make utah a state continued the latterdaylatter saintday

leadership insisted that polygamy no longer provided a bar and

the united states officials gave them the benefit of the

doubt both president harrison in 1893 and president grover

cleveland in 1894 issued amnesties for current polygamists

and in 1894 congress passed the statehood legislation 19

this change in status worked to the benefit of the mormon

missionaries in nonamericannon territoryamerican including germany as

the diplomatic personnel now would be under some obligation to

intervene on the mormons behalf for example in september

1895 the US embassy sent a note verbale to the prussian

government complaining about the expulsion of jacob weiler a

ibid 4041ibid 42

18alexanderalexander 62

allen9alle and leonard 416 418 1 statehood finallyoccurred on january 4 1896

fromron

cook s inf lamlanian

g

16

17

n

40 41

18

103

mormon missionary among other concerns the embassy inquired

why no explanation was given for the exile and why the offi-cial who effected the banishment had rendered weilers pass-

port unusable in direct defiance of an agreement with the

united states 20 this communique presents the first evidence

of diplomatic support of the mormons in germany ignoring the

instructions of the evarts circularamericans nonmormonnon asmormon well as mormon often fell afoul

of the social and cultural expectations of the various german

states the epitome of this type of snare appeared in the

louis stern case of 1895 stern a prominent new york busi-

nessman had come to bavaria in pursuit of business interestswhile there his wife brought their son to a public dance

only to be accosted by a minor official who objected to the

boys presence and demanded his removal upon finding out

later that the officials request did not rest upon public

regulation but personal prejudice stern went to the offe-nders office and demanded an apology during the course of

the dispute stern found himself charged with leseiese majeste

tried fined and ordered to jail even after payment of

additional substantial fines eventually he fled bavaria in

order to avoid imprisonment eight years later the bavariangovernment still refused to commute the sentence or allow him

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen294 september 2 1895

f

20acta Ababschriftschrift III111 27270 americanembassy FO

104

within their borders despite the intervention of the american

ambassador and the editor of the new york times 21

at the same time in faraway tahiti the local french

governor at the behest of french church authorities began an

effort to prevent mormons and other american clergymen from

preaching to the native tahitiansTahiti afterans complaints by affec-

ted mormon missionaries J lamb doty the american consul

became involved in the problem upon determining that thegovernors attitude previously benevolent towards all mi-ssionaries had changed because of accusations of polygamy

doty did his best to find a solution amenable to all finding

this impossible in the short run he then recommended to themormons that they not hold public meetings until a change in

the laws had been effected 22 this conciliatory positionbecame state department policy for dealing with religiousfreedom problems in foreign countries for the next few

decades

american citizens other than the latterdaylatter saintday mi-ssionaries began to have more conflicts with the imperialgerman government the americans who suffered the most at the

hands of german bureaucrats were the naturalized citizens who

21diplomaticdiplomatic instructions personal no number hay totower march 3 1903 diplomatic despatchesdispatchesDes personalpatches nonumber tower to hay april 28 1903

22foreign relations 1898 348352348 352

effectedacted

sionaries

sionaries

21

105

returned to visit their former homeland 23 the circumstances

became more acute after the turn of the century but even in

the 1890s german customs officials zealously monitored the

borders for natives avoiding army service 24 the 1898 case of

edward fabian a austrianbornaustrian americanborn citizen exemplifies

the suffering imposed by indiscriminate application of border

regulations by insensitive customs officials local prussian

police officials at breslau stopped fabian on september 23

1898 during his trip back to america from a sojourn in

austria hungary appropriated his papers and refused him

entry into germany on grounds of poverty not even allowing

him to contact the regional american vice consul fabian

returned to hungary but could not find employment because of

local work restrictions and essentially sat stranded and

penniless in budapest until the american consul mr chesterthere could arrange relief for him the local prussian police

in breslau did not report the case to the resident american

viceconsulvice untilconsul after mr chester wrote to him and theamerican embassy in berlin with the facts on november 8

1898 a month and a half later the local police did

communicate with the american consul in breslau informing him

that fabian was treated as an austrian emigrant because he did

specific illustrative cases are enumerated in chapterfive but the problem began prior to 1902

diplomatic despatchesdesvatchesdispatchesDes jacksonratchespatches to hay no 84 1903

a

refused

1898a laterthe

23

24

106

not show his american citizenship papers a charge both fabian

and chester hotly denied 25

embassy secretary jackson reported the fabian case to the

state department but did not follow up on the recommendation

of mr chester to seek for damages for fabians discomfort and

loss of resources from an unspecified source presumably theprussian government jackson did note that a convention

exists between germany and austria in regard to the reciprocaldelivery of persons endeavoring to avoid military serviceinferring that the local police may have suspected fabian of

avoiding austrian military service 2621 he commented furtherthat a prussian governmental policy existed which empowered

police to prevent indigent individuals emigrating from

germany then being refused entrance by immigration officialsof the new country he sent instructions to the vice consul

at breslau to instruct the local officials that american

citizens cannot be prevented from entering their own country

these actions seem to indicate that jackson thought the localofficials considered fabian to be an austrian national tryingto avoid military duty but hid their actual motives behind a

sententious misunderstanding of american immigration laws

when the united states state department received noti-fication of fabians dilemma secretary john hay commended

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes nopatches 612 jackson to hay november21 1898

ibid

25

26

fication

107

jackson for his choice of actions at the same time stronglyadvising that the embassy take steps to make sure thatamerican passports be recognized at all foreign frontiers 27

nothing more about fabian appears in the dispatches making itdifficult to ascertain his fate but it is clear that theembassy felt that local prussian border officials had littleconcern for tact or legality in their behavior in the

initial report jackson also noted that the attitude of the

frontier officers towards naturalized americans of russian and

austrian descent was disrespectful at best frequentlyjackson had to restrain local customs officials from forcing

naturalized americans of russian birth to undergo delousing

a humiliating unnecessary and uncomfortable procedure 28

in spite of the growing tension between the prussian

state and americans in the 1890s mormon missionary work ingermany proceeded calmly until 1898 baptisms between 1895

and 1898 rose from ninetyfourninety afour year to one hundred seventy

seven mormon emigration in that same period only averaged

thirty germans annually overall german membership grew from

376 to 102810213 29

this success soured as official persecution againstmormon missionaries picked up ambassador white reported in

27dijlomaticdiplomatic instructions hay to jackson no 677december 10 1898

28diplomaticdiplomatic patchesdespatchesdispatchesDes jackson to hay no 612 november21 1898

anderson 210

sp1steete

21f

29anderson

28

29

ariesarles

3ibidbibid32

108

september 1898 that prussia had banished two mormon mission-

aries charles richards and elijah A larkin from hannover

because they were troublesome foreigners 30 he remonstrated

with prussian officials and received word that reports togermany faulted the mormons with preaching doctrines which

harmed german society in fact the police told white thatmormon ism had

a malodorous reputation in germany on account of itssupposed advocacy of polygamy breaking up congregationsand interfering with the peace of families by inducingyoung and inexperienced girls to leave their homes andemigrate to utah 31

since the two missionaries had left prussia in accordance with

the banishment and had settled elsewhere richards in

stuttgart and larkin in england the ambassador decided not topursue the issue but made sure that their replacements in

hannover received instructions to pay scrupulous heed to the

local laws 32

in 1898 prussia began to move against otherundesirables this time dissident nationalities within its

borders in november less than two months after the hannover

case jackson reported the expulsion of a large number ofnongermannon citizensgerman in an effort to achieve internal tranqu-ility the prussian government particularly aimed at

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 555 september29 1898

31 ibidibid diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 562

october 5 1898

mormonism

41

30

109

individuals who cherished their nationality such as the danes

of the duchy of schleswigSch overleswig citizenship in the german

empire 33 the embassy reports on this action over the next

couple of months showed that the prussian government would

move with dispatch and determination to eliminate a perceived

problem white also noted that the german population of the

affected areas saw nothing wrong with the prussian actions 34

he concluded his last report on the issue with the observation

that the imperial reichstags effort at ameliorating the dis-location ended unsuccessfully when chancellor hohenloheHohen cutlohe

off complaints from reichstag members by noting that theexpulsion of foreigners was a sovereign right of the indivi-dual states and thus not subject to reichstag debate 35 thistype of action would later be directed against the mormons

with as little moral justification as the danes and othersreceived

reichstag delegates did however assert themselves in

other areas which affected mormon missionary work in 1901

they addressed the issue of religious liberty in the empire

noting that the imperial law courts had determined on july 11

1898 that the german empire recognized the rights of citizens

diplomatic despatchesdispatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 610 november18 1898

diplomatic despatchesdispatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 717 january26 1899

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesdegpatchesDesDeg whitepatches to hay no 748 february18 1899

0

33

34

26f35

18f

ckeacke

110

subject to local restrictions to assemble to meet together in

order to exercise religious unity through prayer sermons and

other activities the legislature moved to expand that deci-

sion 36 in a discussion of the rights of the individualgerman principalities to enforce religious legislation one

delegate asserted that as long as the various religious as-

sociations obeyed the laws regarding public behavior thateven mormonism could not be excluded but it must not preach

polygamy in germany which is criminally illegal 37

in this tense environment mormons began to expand theirmissionary program in germany ironically this expansion

came at a time when the church recovering from the financialconsequences of the edmundstuckeredmunds acttucker chose not to expand

other missions due to lack of funds the first presidency saw

the financial burden as so onerous that they called some

missionaries to go without funding although their familiesusually supported the missionaries 38 nevertheless the german

mission grew at this time from fiftyfourfifty missionariesfour in 1898

to one hundred in 1900 39

deutscher reichstag stenografischerstenoqrafischer berichterichtegerichteBe desreichtaqes reichstag aktenstocke nr 372 2393

ibid 2393

alexander 216 in the various missionary journals andletters money concerns were among the most regular andconsistent entries

anderson 202

0 1137in

a 0 0

36

reicht aktenstu37

38

39anderson39

illin 1898 the swissgermanswiss missiongerman split into the swiss

and german missions with peter loutensock as president of thegerman mission his initial inspection visit of the various

congregations in germany was marred when his travellingtra com-

panion

velling

leroi snow was arrested by police upon entering

bavaria despite this reminder of the troubles of working ingermany the mission president expressed extreme satisfactionwith the condition of the latterdaylatter saintday condition and

declared his hope for future success 40 complications con-

tinued however As an example in march 1901 priests in thecity of elberfeld twice persuaded owners of public halls which

the missionaries had hired to prevent mormon meetings afteragreements had been made and a publicity effort had been

mounted an attempt to explain the missionaries side of theside in a local newspaper failed as well 41

riedel40riedel 543545543after

545the unification of 1871 germany did not become a

monolithic state the individual kingdoms grand duchiesfree cities and other principalities retained their owninternal independence laws taxation and police powersprussia and bavaria stood at opposite ends of the empire notonly geographically but also religiously and ideologicallythe german empire primarily oversaw the concerns of nationaldefence and foreign policy and did not have the power todirectly require a change in any member state by vote of thereichstag or by decree of the emperor anyone like presidentloutensackloutensockLouten whosesack area of responsibility encompassed the wholeof germany had to constantly be aware of different lawspolicies of expulsion and customs leroi snow had previouslybeen banished for life from bavaria and his return even intransit was a violation of bavarian law

millennial star 6318741mil lennialdennial

40

hochguhochmutigkeitgeborenheithochgiitigkeitgeborenheit your

goodness and well bornnessbortness when addressing other mission-

aries his final guideline reminded all missionaries thattheir behavior reflected their calling to serve god 42

whether this directive motivated the missionaries to greater

efforts or the german public was more open to the mormon

message or new areas were reached by the enlarged numbers of

missionaries the number of convert baptisms grew

As a further bolster various mission presidents and

missionaries in europe converged on berlin january 5 1902

to hold a conference the conference enjoyed remarkable

success those missionaries who attended came away excitedand revitalized their journals record every speaker and

every song as though they had undergone an experience which

letter to elder william D neal and sister myra whiteneal september 6 1898 LDS archives

112

loutensock took his responsibilities seriously and

expected the missionaries serving in germany to do likewise

he mailed his charges a twelvepointtwelve listpoint of appropriate

behaviors for missionaries some of the instructions remark-

ably similar to directions given to mormon missionaries today

he remonstrated against laziness inappropriate use of

finances tours of areas outside of the work field and use of

unearned german honorifics actualactuaacqua ones like euer gnade your

grace or silly ones like euer

honorif icsacs 1

41 11 10

missionaries

42

point

sidentaident

113

changed their lives 43 although the individuals felt renewed

in purpose the end of the conference marks the beginning of

a concentrated effort to expel the mormon missionaries from

prussia

the prussian ecclesiastical community was not amused by

the apparent success of the conference although no evidence

appeared in major newspapers or in the police files mormon

sources claim that shortly after the berlin conference con-

cluded a similar convocation of evangelical pastors met to

discuss how to put a stop to mormon successes 44 whatever thereason after the conference in 1902 missionary work inprussia and later in the german empire became increasingly

difficult newspaper articles for the next couple of years

expressed strongly antimormonanti feelingsmormon

on march 11 1902 the regierungsprasident of the eastprussian gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin districtnen banished two missionaries john

ranzenberger and ernst peter henrichsen from their proselyeroselyting territory in tilsit the district governor justified hisdecision on the basis of prussian national interest since themissionaries allegedly worked among the lithuanian population

a group which the governor saw as volatile and nationalistictherefore he described the missionaries as disturbingunwanted foreigners and characterized their actions as

gottlieb blatter journals 1901190319011903111901 1903190311 unpublished LDSchurch archives cleone walker the life of lorenzo walkerunpublished manuscript LDS church archives 38

millennial star 64361 walker 38.38 ernst june 5 1901

regierungspra

43

44mil lennialdennial

difdlff iculties

gumbinnengumbinner regierungsprasidentI1 nr idb491

he cites S 171 of the imperial criminal code which I1have not been able to examine but in none of the subsequentdiscussions or justifications of banishment does this sectionappear from which I1 infer that it did not apply

ibid47john ranzenberger unpublished diary 190119031901 LDS1903

church archivesdiplomatic despatchesdispatchesDes jacksonpatches to hay no 1892 march

14 1902

sidentaident

114

dangerous to concerns of state 45 the regierungsprasident

further asserted more to the point the suspicion is strong

that the missionaries were attempting to tempt locals with

emigration 46 this particular banishment unlike the 1898

hannover expulsion prompted a comprehensive reexamination of

the mormon missionary presence in prussia

characteristiccharacterist of the difficulties in determining exactly

what was happening from the local missionary point of view

ranzenbergersRanzen diarybergers doesnt even record or comment on the

incident 47 an embassy despatch however indicates that the

missionaries appealed both to the local american consul and to

their ecclesiastical superiors for assistance in staying in

tilsit the embassy staff in the absence of ambassador

white determined to follow a confrontationalnonconfrontationalnon policy untilthey received further instructions from the united statesstate department 48 despite the hope to defuse the situationonce the american embassy entered the struggle the problem

acta den mormonenMor betrbearmonen

regierungspra

ic

45

46

47john

48

Gumbinnen

115

problem escalated until it affected every mormon missionary

serving in prussia

the ratification of the manifesto ending polygamy in 1890

opened a door to improved relations between the mormons and

the imperial and prussian governments the united statesembassy stood ready to support their countrymen the american

mormon missionaries complications such as capriviscapririsCap driverivisto improve germanysgermany economy status in europe at the expense

of american interests the poor opinion of the educated public

towards the mormonscormonsMor increasedmons mormon missionary presence and

the ongoing uncertainties regarding the actual practice of

polygamy in utah actually worsened germanmormongerman relationsmormon

in spite of this atmosphere a mission aimed specifically atgermany was organized the missionwidemission conferencewide at berlinin january 1902 showed the germans that the mormons took thework in germany seriously apparently disturbing the equani-

mity of the protestant establishment and setting the stage forthe problems which were about to trouble the new mission and

its missionaries

s in

organiI1 zed

sidentaident

sidentaident

CHAPTER FIVE

190219031902 evaluating1903 THE MORMON THREAT AND confirming THEbanishment POLICY

the decision of the gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin regierungsprasidentnen tobanish the mormon elders provoked a watershed consideration ofgermanmormongerman relationsmormon instead of local officials pursuing

individually interpreted policy towards mormonscormonsMor asmons had been

done in the past the prussian minister of the interior urged

on by the united states ambassador chose to address the issueof mormon missionaries and formulate a kingdomwidekingdom policywide

the method by which the ultimate decision emerged reflectedthe essential lack of sympathy of prussia for religious alter-natives echoing the spirit of the kulturkampf just a few

decades earlier clearly the mormon leadership either did

not appreciate or ignored this attitude when they appealed tothe united states embassy to intervene on behalf of thebanished elders had they really understood prussian disdain

for their activities the mission leaders would likely not

have pursued a course of action which could threaten theirentire effort in prussia

after the gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin regierungsprasidentnen sent in thereport of his decision to exile the missionaries in tilsit as

undesirable foreigners the prussian minister for the interior

116

regierungspra

regierungspra

ibl544ib1544 berlin den 30 april1902

the final statement of the decree is very clear mormonsare either to be banished or prosecuted for illegallyencouraging emigration

117

demanded reports from other regierungsprasidenten on thepresence of mormon missionaries in the districts and theiractivities his memorandum dated 30 april 1902 documented

specifically that american diplomats had requested that otherplaces be found in prussia to accommodate the missionariesexpelled from the gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin districtnen the interior ministerasked the regierungsprasidenten further from the olderregions why the decree of 1853 specifically directing thatmormons be summarily banished was not being applied so thatno one could misunderstand his amazement he sent a copy of

the expulsion decree to the regierungsprasidenten of regions

that had been annexed by prussia since 1853 1 the interiorminister further sought input from other ministries which

might be involvedinvolve notably foreign affairs and religiousaffairs foreign affairs was included because now thatmormon polygamy no longer provided a bar to american interven-

tion the united states embassy had begun taking up the fighton behalf of the american mormon missionaries

the chain of communication which developed at this time

demonstrates the intricacy of the issue the gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin

regierungsprasident

nen

banished the mormonscormonsMor reportingmons hisactions to prussian minister of the interior who oversaw

police matters the missionaries turned to their mission

ctaacta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen

regierungspra

regierungspra

regierungspra

sisidentendenten

sisidentendenten

sisidentendenten

dl

acta

missinisslnissiI1 onariesfonaries

118

president hugh cannon who communicated with the american

embassy in berlin presumably requesting a new location in the

region where the missionaries could work the american

consular agent in konigsbergnigsbergnitsberg a mr eckhardt also tried to

intervene locally on the mormons behalf the embassy secre-

tary john jackson contacted the imperial secretary forforeign affairs baron von richthofen who then referred thematter to the prussian ministers to resolve the issue

although under bismarck a close relationship had existedbetween the imperial foreign ministry and the prussian min-istries these bureaucracies worked at different levels theimperial foreign ministry had no authority to intervenedirectly in internal prussian affairs and the prussians did

not possess the authority to dictate general foreign policy

the united states did not maintain diplomatic relations with

each member state of the german empire however so any

communications from the american embassy to a german state had

to go through the imperial foreign ministry

opportunities for delay and misunderstanding between theprincipals abounded A further complication emerged in thenature of the imperial diplomatic corps lamar cecil conclu-

ding his study of german diplomats between 1871 and 1914

identified two general characteristics about them which might

prejudice them against the missionaries the first was thatthe foreign office chose diplomats to perform rather thaninform and advise robbing them of initiative to look at

KO

2lamaranaralamar

hlohio

3ibidbibid

5diadi flomaticFlo desmatic patches white to hay no 1932 april 261902

119

problems from new perspectives 2 the other relevant chara-cteristic was the essentially aristocratic makeupmake ofup thecorps this classsensitiveclass selectionsensitive policy did not mean

that incompetent individuals staffed the respective officesbut it suggests that the aristocratic diplomats would likelyhave little appreciation either for egalitarian american

mormons or their workingclassworking germanclass converts 3

the united states embassy responded to the mormon plea

for help with restraint upon being informed by the localconsular agent that the gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin regierungsprasidentregierungsprdsidentnen had

claimed interests of state as justification for his judgementjud

the

gement

embassy secretary decided on march 14 1902 to await the

decision of the prussian government before taking furtheraction 4 similarly in an april communique to the statedepartment ambassador white reported

in view of the fact the mr hugh J cannonhas assured mr jackson that these missionaries hadbeen especially instructed to comply with all locallaws and had stated that polygamy was nolonger practiced or preached it was found properto call the attention of the foreign office to thematter 5

amar cecil the german diplomatic service 187119141871princeton

1914new jersey princeton university press 1976

321

bid 322

diplomatic despatchesdispatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 1892 march 141902

diplomatic despatchesdispatches

for

for wiath9th

0

teristic

196116

iiibicib 761839816 berlin 3 july1902

6hardyahardy

7actasacta

120

at this juncture with the embassy standing behind the

official mormon position firm in the belief that polygamy had

ended president cannon walked a fine line he personally had

married another plural wife some time after the manifesto

effectively giving the lie to his assertion to ambassador

white that polygamy was no longer practiced 6 the incon-

sistency inherent between cannons actions and words makes thegerman distrust of mormon guarantees less objectionable itis not certain whether the prussian authorities knew of hismarital circumstances as these do not appear in the officialpolice records

nevertheless on june 16 1902 the embassy sent a note

verbale to the imperial foreign office specifically requesting

that a uniform action be determined and that the mormon

elders not be discriminated against because of theirreligious belief 7 two weeks later the embassy reiteratedthe request addressing the content of the expulsion orders

based on the 1853 decree that is that missionaries abided by

local law and that mormonism no longer encouraged polygamy

and calling attention to the fact that most of prussia except

hannover tolerated the presence of the missionaries hischoice of words implied that the decree was outdated and thata new ruling favorable to mormons should be issued on the

ardy appendix II11

7aaaada der mormonenMor betrbearmonen

decreethat

sistency

iiibicib8266

9ibidbibid

121

basis of existing tolerance by local officials rather than

strict legal precedence the note verbale then requested

that mormon missionaries of american nationality may receive

the same treatment as is accorded to other american citizenssojourning in prussia 8 in the meantime the imperial

foreign office had forwarded the note to the affected prussian

officials in which the foreign minister expressed his opinion

that mormon activities did indeed run counter to prussian

state interest but deferred to the experience of the interiorministry and further requested the input of the religious

affairs minister 9

the latter replied to this invitation by presenting theposition of the evangelical union authorities this action

underlines one of the fundamental differences between the

nineteenth century germanprussianGerman sociopoliticalsocioPrussian structurepoliticaland the contemporary american model the close interrelation-ship of political and ecclesiastical authority while

american clergymen enjoyed the respect and attention of theirfellow citizens they operated within the political framework

as private individuals not as privileged governmental cor-

porations the american mormon missionaries prior to world

war I1 never seemed to get beyond this perspective to thegermans as has been earlier argued this state of affairs had

cta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen

is

no1197

porations

Ababschriftschrift 1118266 FO no 1197embassy of the united states of america note verbale june 301902

bid

acta

91101110

122

natural and historical foundations and contributed to themaintenance of the german culture

A note dated august 29 1902 from the evangelischerEvang oberelischerkirchenrathKirchen evangelicalrath union superior church counselor

declared in the strongest terms that the united states had

stringently persecuted the mormons because of the doctrine of

vielweibereivielweibereill polygamy calling the teaching the realeigentliche attraction of the mormonscormonsMor 10mons the apparent

ridiculousness of this statement seems to have eluded the

counselor polygamy as a social institution was so very

foreign to the german marital and social norms that while itmight appeal to male prurience the practice could hardly be

said to attract women to mormonism

his note further cited an article in derper stern issue 10

no year given in which an unspecified mormon church leaderclaimed a time would come when it would be possible to once

again practice plural marriage though not at present thecounselor referred to a police report not included in thegovernment files on the mormons in which two missionariesadmitted that polygamists still lived in utah concluding from

this that the sect would not make any strong effort to end

the custom although polygamy had been outlawed by the church

since 1890 11

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen nr 2621 minister dergeistlichegeist unterrichtsUnterliche undrichts medizinischeMedizi angelegenheitennischeberlin W den 20 sept 1902

ibid

in

reportnotmormonsin

1oacta

11

123

significantly he also described the invasion of

americanbornamerican sectsborn as a disturbing element for the peace of

the christian churches and a cause for confusion of the moral

understanding among our peoples 12 this revelation ofgerman ecclesiastical insecurity in the face of competition

with foreignoreigncoreign denominations although not explained in any

detail presages the observations of both consul bopp and

richard lempp whose views will be discussed in chapter six

rather than recognize and deal with the attraction of theinvading faiths the counselor preferred to eliminate them

from germany altogether

his note argued further that although the current mi-ssionaries had exercised more care in their preaching on thetopic of emigration state officers should not be deceived

into believing that by avoiding discussion of leaving germany

the missionaries had changed preaching emigration had become

unnecessary since accepting mormon principles furnished

sufficient motivation for emigration to utah this behavior

followed naturally from conversion since mormons could only

find permission to live their principles in states in which

they enjoyed a majority therefore the interests of both thestate and christianity coincided with the need to banish theseamericans 13

ibidibid

for

f

since

since

0

12

13

sionaries

124

A week later on september 4 1902 the counselor wrote

again clarifying that although since the decree of 1853 the

missionaries had altered their practices they had not alteredtheir principles which contravened not only national laws but

also christian morals therefore it seemed needless to treatthe missionariesissionariesmissionaries with the same consideration as other

americans because of their moral turpitude 14

while these opinions were being expressed in berlin themormons followed their usual procedure and sent replacements

for the exiled missionaries both the regional governors inkonigsbergnigsbergnitsberg and gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin sentnen memos in the last week of august

requesting instructions on how to deal with the newcomers

one missionary william leonard returned at the end of

september to his field of labor in bielefeld and was promptly

incarcerated prompting another note of protest from amba-

ssador white 15 this is one of the rare instances of actualimprisonment to be reported during the wave of mass evictionsfrom prussia in 1902 by september jackson reported that thedeportation order had been placed in abeyance until theministries resolved the impasse 16 this decision in effectpermitted the missionaries to continue their labors without

fear of expulsion

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen GI nr 621

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 2093 berlinoctober 2 1902

diplomatic desdatchesdespatchespatchesdispatchesDes white to hay no 2075 september9 1902

m

ko

14

15

16

91

125

simultaneous with these mormon expulsions german offi-cials began to focus on a different group of americans natur-

alized citizens of german birth accused of emigrating to the

united states to avoid military service the dispatches towashington for the period from 1890 to 1904 are full of

appeals for intervention on behalf of young naturalizedamerican men either being detained or fined by local mag-

istrates for avoiding military duty it is not within thescope of this study to determine the cause for the increase in

these sorts of cases but it seems likely that the changing

international climate less cordial towards germany and

increasingly confrontational may have stimulated concern ingovernment circles about young german men avoiding militaryduty through emigration similar to the public reactiontowards american draft dodgers during the early years of thevietnam war

the 1904 case of emil herz follows the common patternhe had emigrated as a youth of fifteen and acquired american

citizenship in 1894 at age twenty seven subsequently he

visited his parents in germany once a year for a decade and

until in 1904 the customs officials denied him a visitors visabecause in their view he had emigrated to avoid militaryservice 17 even children born to american parents inside

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes towerpatches to hay no 422 july 301904

for

this for

0

17

126

german borders were contacted for military service upon

reaching age seventeen 18

in a communication from the embassy to the state depart-ment dated august 12 1902 embassy secretary jackson clarifiedthat while the united states did not condone draft dodging

where german emigrants have fulfilled the conditions neces-

sary to entitle them to be treated as american citizenscitizens7 they

should actually be so treated 19 the embassy thus found

itself both in the case of the emigrants and the mission-

aries suggesting german officials adopt a different perspec-

tive but with little or no success the relevance of theseoccurrences to the concurrent mormon expulsions lies in thebehavior which the german officials manifested arbitrarilypushing the limits of their authority in the absence of clearlegal boundaries rather than seeking a solution equitable to

all concerned

on other occasions related neither to national defense

nor to social protection local magistrates and government

officials pursued their objectives oblivious to the feelingsof the americans with whom they dealt

in august 1902 the state department lodged a complaint

with the imperial foreign office about the cavalier attitudeof a german customs official towards official american diplo

diplomatic instructions hay to white no 949 oct 171899

diplomatic despatchesdispatchesDes jacksonpatches to hay no 1932 august12 1902

11

of iI1 cialsbials

18

19

7

127

maticmafic property during a customs inspection he apparently

casually emptied boxes of official american consulate letter-head and stationery dumping on them the dirty floor of his

office he did not attempt to contact the local consul forwhom the shipment was intended and who could have easilyunlocked the boxes 20 while this event did not constitute a

serious international conflict it does demonstrate the unwa-

rranted disregard for politeness which local german officialscould adopt towards foreigners and their property

in a more serious case during may 1903 an american

consul joseph langer nearly suffered imprisonment in spiteof diplomatic immunity when a local magistrate of solingen

expressed dissatisfaction with the consuls behavior in courtwhen langer produced the actual treaty which delineated theimmunity the magistrate refused to acknowledge its merit

langer had to run to his home to prevent himself from being

jailed and later had to appeal to a higher court before thearrest warrant was declared void 21

problems of this type occurred outside germany as well

in the winter of 190203 a german warship arrested the entiregraduating class of caroline island natives who studied in a

mission school run by the reverend martin stimson since he

was operating under the protection of the american board of

diplomatic instructions hay to jackson no 1027 march31 1900

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes towerpatches to hay no 98 may 81903

serious

20

311

21

128

commissioners for foreign missions the board intervened on

his behalf with the state department the german ships com-

mander took the students to a different island charging them

with preaching against the german government 22 since the

instructors and students had received explicit instructionsnot to criticize germany in any way the commissioners were

sure that the charges were invalid the board having

obtained assurances from the german government that no

problems would arise from the caroline islands changing

oversight to german control felt the actions of the naval

officers were incomprehensible 23

these conflicts arising as they did at the same time as

the mormon problem indicate that the mormons were not the

only groups suffering from german highhandednesshigh norhandedness were

they as the caroline island experience shows the only

missionary group affected by perceived concerns of statesecurity

As mormon problems continued jackson noted that police

actions usually occurred only in specific regions such as

hannover the russian border and cologne while other regions

effectively treated them with complaisance 24 the efforts of

the embassy had always been to encourage a consistent policy

diplomatic instructions hay to tower no 47 april 151903

ibiddiplomatic despatchesdispatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 1932 april 26

1902

efforts

22

23

24

berlberi in

129

either treat the american missionaries as normal citizens or

decide why they are undesirable and act accordingly on

august 26 1902 the prussian undersecretary of state dr von

hlbergmiihiberg informed the american embassy that he would address

the mormon problem von miihibergmiihlberg requested an account from

president cannon of his work and that of his colleagues 25

no more is heard of von hlbergmiihiberg nor does his name surface in

the prussian files after august 1902 his intervention does

not seem to have enjoyed any recorded success

in accordance with von miihibergs request however

cannon provided an account of the missionary efforts of thelatterdaylatter saintsday his exposition carefully phrased in

polished german noted that prior to setting up headquarters

in berlin the mormon leadership sought the permission and

views of the local police all of the proposed literaturedoctrines and work techniques were exhaustively discussedcannon specifically encouraged chastity and public morality

perhaps trying to defuse the issue of polygamy beforehand and

further noted that police officers had listened at all theirmeetings and could verify these claims he cited the twelftharticle of faith regarding the churchs belief in subjection

to local governments and noted that the wellbeingwell ofbeing theimperial government was the object of their daily prayerscannon further noted that the one hundred forty missionaries

diplomatic51omaticdi despatchesdispatchesdespDes whitetchesachespatches to hay no 2049 august28 1902

MUhlberg

muhlberg surface

muhlbergahlberg 1 s

beforehandand

25

ahlberg

ahlberg

iiibicib 1134955030 berlin d 10sept 1902 koniglicheniglicheKonig ministeriumliche des auswartigen angelegenheiten

the william leonard case is the recorded exception seediplomatic dispatches white to hay no 2093 october 2 1902

auswaausbartigenstigen

130

then active in germany received support from home not from

any form of begging or dependence on local institutions he

pleaded we are not come to engage in conflict with other

churches but come bearing the olive branch and

an equally meaningful message 26

this message accompanied a request from jackson asking

the same privileges be extended to the mormons which other

religions enjoyed so long as they complied with local legal

restrictions also he requested that until the investigationwas completed the exile decrees should be held in abey-

ance 27 at that point the embassy dispatches to washington

fall silent for several months until a new ambassador

charlemagne tower arrivedwhile ambassador tower did not cease efforts to help the

mormonscormonsMor hismons exertions did not reflect the same intensitywhich had characterized the earlier labors of white and

jackson of course by the time tower started his term theprussian government and its near neighbor the grand duchy of

mecklenburg had determined to implement a policy hostile to

the mormons and tower was working against a fait accompli

on december 14 1902 the prussian foreign ministersubmitted a memorandum to the minister of the interior re

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen26actaKO

27

nig

131

evaluating the legal standing of the mormon missionaries inprussia the document is as important for what it does not

consider as for what it does discuss nowhere does the idea

appear that the prussian constitution provided any form of

religious freedom for unrecognized churches or that the mi-ssionaries were not harming the kingdom the only diplomatic

agreement with the united states that the foreign ministercould find which he thought might offer the missionaries a

legal claim to perform their activities in prussia was a

commercial treaty concluded may 1 1828 28

he wrote that any claim based on the first article of

that treaty was questionable since the continued enforcement

of the treaty stood in doubt since chancellor caprivicaprisi had

actively labored in the 1890s to renegotiate several comme-

rcial treaties including one with the united states the view

that treaties previously concluded could be invalidated by

those negotiations or unification legalities had some forceon the other hand the treaty wording

they will be free to stop there and reside in thatplace to take care of their affairs and theywill enjoy to this effect the same security andprotection that the inhabitants of the country inwhich they previously resided at the price of

submitting themselves to the laws and ordinancesthat are there established

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen iiibl505674260 14 december1902

28 jjjb1505674260

sionaries

ariesanesarles 29

the foreign minister appeared uncertain whether thisclause offered missionaries the right to settle in prussia to

conduct their work he did advise though that any decision

to expel the missionaries build upon the premise that themormon mission effort in fact defied prussias laws and

ordinances

I1

sidentssilents

affaiaffail

132

did seem to offer some protection to the mormon mission-s

that approach he opinedopened would assure that no

answer to the embassys note verbale would be required 30

the decision then lay with the interior minister

in an undated memorandum presumably written in late1902 entitled simply ausweisunqausweisuncr der mormonenMor banishmentmonen of

the mormonscormonsMor themons minister for the interior delineated his rea-

soning for the necessity of the unilateral expulsion of themormon missionaries recapitulating the gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin regierungsnen

presidents reasons for expelling the tilsit missionaries he

stated that from the start he had agreed with the gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin

judgementjud

nen

stillgement when the american embassy entered a plea

for clemency on behalf of the missionaries he thought itprudent to ask the foreign minister for guidance and also sentout requests for information from the various regional gover

ibid the text of the agreement reads ils serontberontlibres de syslysry arreterarre etter residersider pour y vaguer aleurs affairesfairesaffairsaf et ils jouiront a cetacet effet de la meme secu-rity et protection que les habitants du pays dans lequellaquel ilsresiderentresi a&derent charge de se soumettresou auxmettre lois et ordonnancesy etabliestabliestabbiesetata

ibid

e bliesbiles

missionaries

memorandumpresumably

pra

29ibidre1

meme

301bid

sidents

133

nors and police chiefs he particularly stressed his concern

with the inadequate enforcement of the 1853 decree notably in

berlin the imperial capital and example to the nation

at no time did he show any appreciation that the emigr-ation concerns which had inspired the 1853 decree had since

abated and were in fact resolved by imperial legislation in

the 1870s he noted that in none of the responses to hishist

request was there any proof that the missionaries had encou-

raged specific individuals to emigrate

despite this lack of illegal activity the regierungs

prasidentenprssidentenprasi indenten gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin andnen hannover insisted that an expul-

sion of the mormons was desirable upon applying to the reli-gious affairs minister the interior minister received theanswer that the idea of permitting all of the sects which

blossom in america to come over and be permitted to grow was

not in the best interests of the prussian state he alsqalscsraleqstated that only a few years earlier the united states had not

permitted the legal presence of the mormons so long as poly-

gamy represented the primary doctrine of their church he

agreed with the opinion of the evangelical counselor thatpolygamy had not been eradicated from mormon theology and

therefore the missionaries had no business in prussia

the interior minister offered as a compromise that any

missionary who had lived in prussia for several years and

whose behavior did not offend public sensibilities could

remain in the country for new arrivals however the police

berlinthe

134

would enforce the 1853 decree with regards to the commercial

treaty of 1828 it only required that the foreigners be per-

mitted residence as long as they obeyed prussian law and

expulsion would be justified when the missionaries activitieswere demonstrated as illegal in order to accomplish this itwas necessary merely to view polygamy neither preached ingermany nor legal in utah as a current part of church prac-

tice anywhere and then the missionaries could be expelled As

prima facie evidence of the continuing existence of mormon

polygamy he cited two letters from the german embassy inwashington never included in the police filesflies which claimed

that polygamy continued to be secretly permitted and encou-

raged by the mormonscormonsMor frommons this perspective therefore even

the questionable rights of the 1828 treaty were negated and

the missionaries had no right to import american sects toprussia

he then presented the text of the new expulsion decree

which essentially states that the 1853 decree was still in

effect in the second paragraph of the new decree he declared

that it is not necessary for the missionaries to be engaged inany illegal activity but could be expelled without explana-

tion the decree reiterates his offer that missionaries who

had been in prussia for a longer period and would stop propa-

ganda activitiesactivitiesof offendingfending the public moralsmorais would be per-

mitted to stay in order to avoid undue suffering the

minister concluded by noting that efforts by the missionaries

view

washingtonnever fileswhich

inmoralswouldof

sidentaident

135

to retaliate in the press would likely avail nothing since theprevailing public mood was against them 31

to facilitate his decision the interior minister on

january 9 1903 prepared an extensive memorandum ib 4451

4529 in it he addressed every regierungsprasident giving

them specific and deliberate instructions on how to deal with

their individual areas and local mormon missionaries at theend of the memorandum he responded to the advice of theforeign minister the interior minister bluntly stated thathe decided not to wait until an understanding had been reached

with the american embassy before announcing the decree thecommercial treaty had limited scope and frankly presented no

serious challenge to the banishment decision he then quoted

treitschke as saying foreigners who become undesirable to a

nation must be able to be banished without a statement of

reasons even if an agreement has been made which the prince

or the subjects of another state have been assured 32 he

continued by declaring that if the foreign minister is not

comfortable with telling the embassy the reason for the deci-

sion simply tell them that the banished missionaries cannot

be reinstated the minister also faulted the embassy for get-

ting involved in the bielefeld problem as it is not in their

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen ausweisung der mormonenMormonen1902

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen 9 january 1903 ib 44514529section 4

the treitschke quote is in the second volume of politikholitikPoli559

tik

regierungspra

31 11

32

loviov

iiibicib

136

field of competence he concluded by encouraging the foreign

minister to share the german ambassadorsambassador letter with the

minister of religious affairs which might explain why those

documents are not included in the prussian police files 33

A memorandum from the interior ministry of the grand

duchy of mecklenburg dated december 17 1902 cited prussian

information as a significant reason for adopting their antimormon policy this document shows that the prussian govern-

ment was not averse to sending information about missionaries

to other german state governments perhaps in an effort todiscourage acceptance of the missionaries elsewhere ingermany 34 the mecklenburg foreign office called mormonism a

dangerous religion and cited the 1894 activities of a woman

encouraging a female minor to emigrate as grounds for theirpolicy interestingly enough this policy was announced

around the time the prussian government finalized their expul-

sion procedures moreover the same communique addressed toreichskanzlerReichs vonkanzler bulowbulov indicates that the imperial govern-

ment was addressed by applicants other than the american

embassy regarding resolution of the missionary dilemma

ibidno 3707.25828370725828370725828 december 17 1902the reference cites a prussian document II11 1495869963

of 23 the previous month not included in the acta betrbear denmormonenMor themonen burgi confession discussed in chapter 6 whichwas found in saxon police files is another example of prus-sian influence outside its borders

s

BU low

33

34

137

the mood among the north german governments at leastwas one of cleaning house it hardly comes as a surprise

then when ambassador tower sent a verbal note protesting the

expulsion of two american mormons from mecklenburg that he met

with a cold refusal to rescind the banishment decrees the

only action which he could take was to inform the statedepartment of the current status and note that the mecklenburg

banishments would be the first of several such actions 35

even a telegram from utahs senators understandably had littlepractical effect in reversing the trend of banishment thereis some irony perhaps in towers assertion that the prussian

government had been lenient in its treatment of the mission-

aries particularly when the minister of the interior specifi-cally recommended not sharing the real reason for the expul-

sion and viewed the facts of the case only in pursuit of a

loophole with which to justify a preconceived decision to

banish the mormonscormonsMor 36mons

the missionary reaction to all of these activities was

not one of fear and trepidation the majority of the survi-ving journals from this period concern themselves more with

the number of tracts given out gospelorientedgospel conversationsorientedpursued concerns of local branches and financial worries

references to banishment were almost passe noting that so

diplomatic despatchesdispatchesDes towerpatches to hay no 83 april 91903

diplomatic despatchesdispatchesDes towerpatches no 93 april 30 1903

0

0

0

35

36

138

andsoand arrivedso today because he was banished from prussia 37

the life history of lorenzo walker and the journals of

gottlieb blatter provide particularly specific valuable infor-mation about a few of these incidents

gottlieb blatters personal history introduction to hisjournals recounts

mormon elders had no freedom in germany all ourmeetings had to be registered before they could beheld then while the meeting was being held apoliceman would take every word down in shorthandand report back to headquartersatheadquarters at one time we hadseveral converts who desired to be baptized but wehad to do all our baptizing on the sly unbeknownstto the authorities if we had been caught we wouldhave been banished from germany 38

his journal entries reveal among other things thecareful attention the elders paid to local registration poli-

cies how they dealt with banishment their general attitudeabout local authorities and their frustrations about the localclergy of definite interest during the 190219031902 period1903 are

blatters comments regarding lorenzo walkers banishment from

east prussia blatter worked in konigsbergnigsbergnitsberg at the time thatwalker had to leave insterbergsterbergIn his pithy account describedmeeting walker and his companion at the train station bring-

ing them home and working with them for a few months while thedecision whether to revoke the banishment orders lay in the

see for example journal of john ranzenberger february12 and 14 1903 for his own laconic banishment entry LDSarchives

gottlieb blatter personal history unpublished LDSchurch archives

KO

37

38

139

hands of the prussian government after a few weeks matters

calmed down and in december 1902 blatter was transferred to

dresden saxony

the usual concerns of preaching keeping the local branch

in line eating and bathing went along for a few months and

then in march 1903 blatter was again called upon to host hisold friend walker and his companion zwahlen

while they did not stay long being reassigned to labor

in freiberg two months later a second pair was banished from

konigsbergnigsbergnitsberg and landed among blatter and the dresden elders 39

the tone of blatters entries possesses a matteroffactmatter

qualityof

implying

factin part that these sort of sacrifices

comprised a portion of the job he had accepted along with hismission call his comments in conjunction with police

behavior demonstrated a similar simplicity of acceptance he

was aware of the tension around him several newspaper

clippings of contemporary interest on mormons appear in hisjournal but he consistently refrained from making any

reference to them even though some of the articles courted

sensation more than accuracy

lorenzo walkers biographer on the other hand described

his banishment in the context of the drive to expel themormonscormonsMor

walker

mons

and his companion were ordered to leavetown because they were teaching two wives theyrepudiated the rumor and were given awhile longer

blatter journals

ko

39blatter39

orbidoibid

140

to stay but they must be very careful of what theytaught it was very evident that there was apush on to get the mormon elders out of prussia andit was all happening after the big conference inberlin the ministers of the various reli-gions were concerned that the popularity the mormonreligion was having on their congregation and theywere doing all they could to prevent it IV 0 theelders began to grow beards and mustaches so thatthey couldnt be singled out as being mormonscormonsMormons

As soon asthey arrived in konigsberg sic the police sum-moned them to the police station and wanted to knowwhy they had stopped there walker toldthem that their ambassador had told them to remainthere because the question was being handled diplo-matically the 2nd of august 1902 thebanishment orders were lifted and elder walker andflamm were sent back to tilsit 40

when the banishment decree of 1903 went into effectwalker and others worked as though nothing had happened thennegotiated for a little more time and finally took a train fordresden stopping in stettin and berlin to see the sightssubsequently transferred to freiberg walker worked until he

became seriously ill and received a mission release 41 theaccount leaves no doubt that walker and the missionaries he

worked with knew the local motives behind the banishment

order the story in konigsbergnigsbergnitsberg about instructions from theambassador cannot be substantiated by existing documents and

may even have been a ruse similar to the beards but its use

underscores the determination of the missionaries to stay

galkertalker40 374137Walkerwaiker

ibid41

4142

0

10 A couple of weeks after the elders in tilsit hadbeen ordered to leave walker and his companionreceived their banishment papers

1

told

0

in

4

in KO

matically

41 42

141

close to their field of labor in spite of official disap-

provalonce the expulsions began president cannon moved quickly

to comply with prussian demands applying to the interiorministry for an extension to wind up business dealings he

graciously accepted their offer of a few weeks neither in

derper stern nor in any utterance recorded in missionary jour-

nals did he offer any comment on the inconvenient policy infebruary 1904 however as he neared the end of his tenurecannon published a lengthy article in the millennial starroundly condemning the prussian national and local officialsfor their intolerant actions he praised the local members

for standing true to their convictions and helping more

actively in the missionary work then he statedthe cause of our recent trouble can be traceddirectly to the papers who inspired them to makethe utterly false and unjustifiable statementsconcerning us is to some extent a matter ofsurmise

his angry rhetoric was further fueled by the apparent

injustice and the actual cruelty of some local officials in

execution of the banishment instructions he declared that in

their scrutiny of missionary activities

not a single charge of wrongdoingwrong wasdoing broughtforth missionaries were banished wereimprisoned were marched through the streets likecriminals but were not accused of violating anylay sic law of the land or of good order ormorality and still prussia claims to have reli-gious liberty and has it too for all but thechurch of jesus christ

nigsdigs

142

describing the ongoing struggle and work in other

nations cannons castigation of austrian and hungarian

bureaucrats could easily match his feelings towards theprussiansprussianoPrus

the

sians

officials would have every one belong to thechurch which happens to have the favor of thegovernment and forget that we are living in thetwentieth century when every man who is respon-sible to be at large should have the privilege ofchoosing the religion which suits him bestfinally he concluded with a paean in honor of the

members he supervised cannon declared

the missionary is able to press forward in the faceof every difficulty his duty lies perfectly clearbefore him it is not an imaginary conception itis not shrouded in mystery or doubt he is askedand expected to declare his message and warn theworld of impending judgementsjudge unlessments it will turnunto the lord and he is not held in the slightestdegree responsible for results the lord holds himresponsible only for the work which he does 42

in the september 15 1903 edition of derper stern the

releases column read

elder lorenzo walker who arrived in the missionmay 5 1901 and labored most of his time in thekonigsbergnigsbergnitsberg conference and later in the dresdenconferenceelder gottlieb blatter who arrived feb 11 1901and who had labored over two years in the konigs-berg conference and finished his mission in thedresden conferenceelder brigham liechetyLiec whohety arrived feb 25 1901and labored until the end of 1902 in the konigsbergconference and since that time in the stuttgartconference 43

millennialllennialglennial star 6697

derper stern 35280

KO

KO

42mi llenlienilennial43

143

no statement appeared about the banishment no reference

is made about any conflict with prussia the government

disposed the missionaries adapted and the work proceeded

from this point on however a consistent draconian policy

existed to handle the insignificant presence of mormon

missionaries and that would not change until july 1922

ariesarles

CHAPTER SIX

190419141904 PRUSSIAN1914 intolerance AND MORMON persistence

in the decade after the implementation of the 1902

banishment decree mormon missionary work in germany became

significantly more difficult in america the senate hearings

on reed smoots election brought the specter of polygamy back

to national and international attention the results in partjustifying the disbelief of the german governments in mormon

protestations of cessation of polygamy active police perse-

cution of the missionaries in germany became more consistentand accounts of imprisonment increased in missionary journals

initially mormon leadership in europe spoke out against thetreatment but eventually developed a pattern of continued

work without significant complaint the american embassy no

longer regularly appealed on behalf of the mormon mission-

aries effective missionary efforts decreased from the peak

in 1908 of 548 baptisms to less than 300 in 1914 1 inessence the mormons persevered in face of continued

persecution until forced to leave by the outbreak of world war

I1 in august 1914

andersonnderson 210.210 acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen Ababschriftschrift vomiiibicib 6321 kaiserlichKai deutschenserlich konsulatKon aprilsulat 29 1912

144

145

perusal of accounts of latterdaylatter saintday sources during

1904 gives the impression that while the labor had been affec-ted by the banishment decree and american officials seemed

powerless to help them that divine support rallied to themormon cause hugh J cannon noted in the monthly report forapril 1904

during the past month four elders have been banished fromsaxony and the officers in prussia have been making manyinquiries about the elders who are travellingvellingtra there thepapers are full of the mormon question and thereports are unfavorable on the whole however every-thing is in a satisfactory condition during the monthof april we distributed 13944 tracts and 272 books

and baptized thirty persons 2

A millennial star article dated february 18 1904

credited the local members with the remarkable success thatoccurred since the banishment 3 A missionary stated in a dif-ferent article that the recent troubles have interested many

people so that a better class of people is being

reached 4 the author of the earlier article noted thatother german states seemed about to assume a threatening

attitude 5 although the article does not identify which

millennial star 66315 may 19 1904

millennial star 66107 february 18 1904 thomasalexander states that the banishment order was lifted in 1905but while the files are completely silent from 1905 to 1907there is no record of the decree being recalled nor does thedeseret news article cited by alexander see journal historyapril 7 1905 state that the order was lifted effectivelythen the order was still in force just not executed forthose two years

millennial star 66155

millennial star 66107

0

146

states stood on the verge of expelling the missionaries

bavaria saxony and mecklenburg had already taken steps to

expel missionaries although not en masse

the missionaries did not greet these new challenges with

unalloyed cheerfulness A letter from president joseph F

smiths son calvin indicates that the missionaries resented

the highhandedhigh actionshanded of the german police and felt thatthe claims of german religious liberty were inaccurate atbest no date or place appears with this account but themanuscriptmanuscrip history of the german mission included this articleamong its 1904 entries

I1 underwent an inquisition and was piled into a cab withall the movable property in the room and taken to head-quarters they opened everything taking church propertyand all I1 waswashvasvashvasa turned over to the police and the nextday they took me to the station and bought me a ticketwith the church money out of germany they also paidthemselves liberally from the church money for allservices rendered me A german professor has

recently demanded the right of germany toa dominant place in the worlds affairs but it is evi-dent that as long as german states treat liberty of con-science and freedom of speech as strangers the empire isnot quite prepared to take the foremost rank place in theadvancing ranks of nations the germans are a greatnation at the time of the reformation they were fore-most as the champions of liberty militarism has oflate years got the upper hand and the result is retro-gression let germans rid themselves of the shackelssic and again raise the banner of both religious and

political freedom then they will have a right to theposition in the world which they desire the demand forrecognition should not come from behind guns and for-tresses but from the pinnacles of intellectual achieve-ment 6

malvincalvin smith undated article manuscript history of thegerman mission LDS archives

gression

Manuscript

147

by 1905 however certain changes had been instituted or

reissuedre byissued the mission leadership to promote acceptance of

the mormons by prussian officials the new swissgermanswiss

mission

german

president serge F ballif specified that emigration

matters must be kept confidential he made careful notations

to himself in his journal to remind himself never to permit

articles to appear in derper stern about emigration the entry

also directed him to refrain from communicating emigration

information in writing or to allow use of mormon emigration

routes by unknown individuals this last perhaps to prevent

prussian officials from gathering evidence of continuingmormon emigration activities 7 his journals for the years of

1905 to 1908 chronicle periods of intense persecution ingermany which alternate with stretches of indifference during

1905 and 1906 in march 1907 secret police appeared at a

meeting which ballif conducted listened to him took him to

the police station questioned him and then summarily banished

him from prussia 8

to avoid this sort of treatment missionaries began

disguising themselves for example the elders in brasso

east prussia registered themselves as english teachers ratherthan as missionaries on another occasion july 17 1907

while waiting in hannover for some missionaries to arriveballif was informed that they had been arrested and banished

ballif journals flysheetFly 1905sheetbid march 1907

for

bibid

148

by the police the next day he went to the american consul

who prepared a letter for him and was otherwise very

cooperative although with no noticeable effect for the

missionaries he then continued on his way unharmed 9

the value of intervention by consular and diplomatic

officials declined as tensions between germany and the united

states increased international tensions increased markedly

during the period between 1904 and 1914 as wilhelm II11 and hisgovernment tried to force germany into a dominant role ineuropean and world affairs earlier conflicts over thephilippines and samoa had already tainted the relationshipbetween the emerging national powers germany and the united

states 10 although these two principals worked together to

reduce the fallout from the russojapaneserusso warjapanese the algecirasconference over morrocanMor independencerocan the hague conference of

1907 and ongoing struggles over a treaty of internationalarbitration effectively poisoned german and american amity 11

during this same time the struggles between the mormons and

the american government had not yet completely subsided in thewake of the smoot senate hearings

the task of intermingling the monolithic mormon church

and the twopartytwo systemparty prevalent in the united states proved

bid july 17 1907 passim

manfred jonas the united states and germany ithacanew york cornell university press 1984 556055

itibid60

7394

un itedcited

91bid

ibid 73 94

princl11princi

149

to have its difficult points for both the country and thechurch perhaps the most significant element was manifested

in the revocation of the practice of polygamy although the

manifesto had been proclaimed in 1890 and president woodruff

had repeatedly spoken out for its enforcement portions of theleadership held stubbornly to the maintenance of the princi-ple 12 As mentioned earlier the election of apostle reed

smoot to the senate in 1903 refocused american attention on

the struggle to eradicate polygamy the attempt to seat smoot

set off a fight between the antipolygamistsanti andpolygamists those who

supported his right to represent utah the senate called upon

church president joseph F smith to testify on actual church

adherence to the manifesto senator dubois of idaho disputed

smiths claim that only two percent of church population was

involved in a polygamous marriage maintaining that the number

was closer to twentythreetwenty percentthree of the mormon male popula-

tion above eighteen years of age 13

in this environment the first presidency issued a state-ment during the annual april conference in 1904 stating thatno plural marriages had

the sanction consent or knowledge of the churchall such marriages were prohibited and if any officeror member of the church should assume to solemnize orenter into any such marriage he would be deemed in

doctrine and covenants official declaration 1 andwoodruff address excerpts 291293291 alexander293 606160

alexander

61

626462 64

12

13

difdlff iculties

150

transgression against the church and would be liable tobe dealt with and excommunicated therefrom 14

the first presidency also took the extraordinary step of

removing permission for the apostles to perform sealingsdealingssea inlings

areas where no temples existed 15 by 1906 the apostles who

still advocated maintaining polygamy had either resigned from

the council of the twelve under pressure or had died ironic-ally united states officers arrested president smith who had

presided over this tremendous change upon return from a euro-

pean tour in 1906 because of his own continued polygamous

cohabitation 16 there can be little wonder that the german

officials viewing this from across the atlantic put littlestock in the assertion of the local missionaries that latterday saints no longer preached or practiced polygamy

in spite of all these difficulties the church continued

to grow in germany an evaluation of the statistics of mormon

activities in germany emigration and baptism in the period

between 1904 and 1914 reveals some interesting trends em-

igration seems to have peaked in 1907 at 180 persons after

ibidibid 65

the unique latterdaylatter saintday ordinance of sealing is onlyperformed in specially dedicated temples entry to whichrequires a careful interview with two local ecclesiasticalauthorities to determine the candidatescandidate spiritual worthinessrevocation of the permission to perform marriages outsidethese premises effectively ended recognized plural marriages

ibid r 66

0

0 40 0

sp ite

14

15

s

16

p19pig lilb6231

151

which emigration records become sporadic 17 simultaneously

baptisms increased from 242 persons in 1904 to 548 in 1908

with the records being interrupted in 190919091 18 no reason isgiven for the sudden lacunae in statistics or for the sub-

sequent absence of the numbers in a publication which other-

wise showed great enthusiasm for such data the possibilityof renewed police persecution could explain the absence but

there is no concrete evidence to support that position

if the editors of derper stern hoped to prevent german offi-cials from learning of the extent of missionary work ingermany they did not succeed in 1912 the german consul atdenver herr plehn sent the imperial chancellor a list of

baptism and emigration statistics for the germanspeakinggerman

missions

speaking

covering the period through the blackout which he

had received from the western states mission president john

L herrick herrick in turn had requested them from the

churchs office of the presiding bishop consequently theiraccuracy seems probable 19

overlap in the years covered by these figures and thosecompiled by anderson shows that the numbers given for emigr-ation and baptism were for the entire swissgermanswiss missiongerman

anderson 206.206 shortly afterward during a talk givenin sweden president smith began discouraging emigration seejournal history august 31 1910

ibid 210 no baptismal records appear from 1909 until1924 when 1697 baptisms took place

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen p 19 116231 29 april 1912

in

is

17

18

19acta

koniglichesnigliches ministerium desauswartigen angelegenheiten october 12 1907 nr 111iliiii 16527

70931

2actasactaiiibicib

152

interestingly enough 1909 was a record year for emigration

with a total of 299 emigrants david A smith preparer of

the statistics stressed the low number of recent emigrants

and commented on how the german mormon population had grown

plehn observed in his report that baptisms had increasedgerman membership by 1911 to 5147 from roughly 3500 in 1904

while the number of emigrants had dropped from 283 in 1904 to101 in 1911 he also commented on the apparent change inmormon attempts to build up the physical presence of the

church in germany rather than move to utah 20

despite mormon efforts to downplay the presence of em-

igration and polygamy persecution and surveillance of themormon missionary activities increased in intensity theprussian foreign ministry labeled a 1907 report on theapproach of the steamship cymric to the interior ministry

eilt sehrsehr1sehra very urgent because 37 mormons were on board

the report requested permission to refuse the missionaries theright to land in prussia on the basis of 1902 banishment

order 21 in the same year a consular report appeared which

evaluated the mormon presence in utah in a departure from

earlier accounts the consul paid more attention to the poli-tical and social stability of utah he did not concern

ibid

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen

20

KOKoniglichesnig

153

himself with the issue of polygamy at all instead he particu-

larly focussed on the future political importance of the

mormons in the united states and the possible importance of

german converts in the church 22

the officials at breslau took a particularly hard stand

on august 12 1908 when police officers arrested two mission-

aries in the middle of a public meeting in the interest of

the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday 11 kept them in

jail overnight and summarily expelled them from prussia with

three days notice 23 when the local american consul mr

spahr asked the police for a reason for that action he

received the cold reply that the police were not in a posi-

tion to accede to his request 24

president ballif lost no time in applying to the embassy

for assistance stressing that the church no longer preached

or practiced polygamy and demanding redress from the german

government to support his position he cited an earlierinstance in frankfurt am main where similar arrests had

occurred in this case the local consul intervened with the

frankfurt dignitaries who then freed the missionaries and

reprimanded the responsible officialofficiaofficial 25 when mr spahr

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen unnumbered consular reportnovember 18 1907

foreign relations 1907 347

ibidforeign relations 1908 367

0

1

22

23

24

25

koniglichesnigliches ministerium derauswartigen angelegenheiten may 7 1909 nr iiib501132116

agaiagalP n

154

wrote to the american embassy the embassy staff reversed thepolicy so effectively used in frankfurt and advised againstattempting intervention on the grounds that previous effortshad not achieved success 26

again president ballif responded by citing legal docu-

ments showing the separation of the mormons from the practiceof polygamy and begged the diplomatic staff to bend theirefforts towards reinstating the missionaries making theirdilemma a test case if necessary expressing the hope thatgood judgementjud wouldgement prevail to bolster his position he

cited a recent case in chur switzerland where the appealsprocess did uphold the mormon position 27 the german offi-cials as it turned out knew of this trial and had not yet

determined whether to change their policy based on the swiss

judges findings 28 in october 1908 the state department

responded to the embassys request for help noting that a

similar case had occurred in the netherlands as well they

encouraged the local american diplomats to perform their own

investigation of the event and determine if the missionaries

ibid 370

ibid 347349 this trial reversed the decision on theloosli case since polygamy was not preached or practiced inswitzerland

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen

2

26

27

28acta KO

347 349

Koniglichesnig

155

were indeed culpable and if not approach the appropriategovernment officials to rectify the situation 29

ambassador napoleon hill followed this advice but the

attitude of the breslau officials did not equal the under-

standing of the officials in frankfurt am main 30 in a mem-

orandum from the prussian foreign office to the ministry of the

interior it was explained that the principal magistrates

decided that the mormon attitude about polygamy remained un-

clear and that the government must stand against the mission-

aries in order to preserve public order even if the mormons

now avoided encouraging emigration in other words theirfinding indicated that they could not find anything wrong but

declined to change the policy anyway

what the latterdaylatter saintday leadership thought about thesevarious actions and accusations remains difficult to ascertainuntil such a time as the minutes of the general missionary

committee become open to perusal something not likely tooccur at the present time official declarations or similarutterances occasionally appeared in either the european

mission organ the millennial star or the german adjunct derper

stern quoting from a utah german paper the salt lake citybeobachter derper stern provided in january 1908 a direct appeal

from the first presidency in response to a unspecified number

foreign relations 1908 369

foreign relations 1906 349350349 350

f

S

29

30

emieni0 grants

156

of banishments from saxony and hamburg based on the old asser-

tion that mormon missionaries were undesirable lastigthe leaders reaffirmed the policy that the missionaries

came in a spirit of peace not to entice anyone to emigrate

with promises of worldly plenty but simply to preach thegospel further they expressed the view that when germans

emigrants arrived in utah the local citizens received thenewcomers with the best efforts at help and encouragement

claiming a purity of lifestyle for latterdaylatter saintsday the

first presidency proclaimed the mormon acceptance of standard

christian beliefs in godsgodisgod existenceIs and the efficacy of

faith and repentance they closed their appeal with an

entreaty to all german officials with the words of gamaliel

to let the missionaries be and if their work should be of men

it would fail but if it was of god it would not be well tobe found fighting against him 31

these efforts appear to have had no little or no effecton the mindsetmindret of the prussian government the transcript of

a kiel police hearing in 1908 for the missionary samuel burgi

provides further evidence of this official intransigence thedocument in the form of a confession initially establishedthe missionarys identity and citizenship beginning with the

third paragraph however the authorities showed a deep inter-est in his german travels and working companions including

an das deutschsprechende volk derper stern 402 15january 1908

1astig

iI1 n

establishedestablishedstabli shed

31

aa

religiobeligio

iiibicib3681

157

his arrival with thirtysixthirty othersix missionaries in 1907 next

burgi summarized his ecclesiastical responsibilities in each

locale he had served as well as the site of meetings he

related his preaching activities carefully emphasizing thatindividuals who conversed with him or accepted his literaturedid so voluntarily 32

burgi then identified individuals with whom he maintained

contact either to get mail and money from home or to acquire

missionary materials he named the publisher of his litera-ture president serge ballif safely located in switzerland

he also described his sources of income noting that the money

comes from family in utah not local members he categoric-

ally denied any attempt at encouraging emigration while

stating that he believed himself the only mormon missionary in

kiel burgi admitted that other missionaries might come

through the area in transit to other places this was hisexplanation for meeting a former companion at the train sta-tion the day before he acknowledged that when he entered and

left kiel he was legally obligated to register his movements

finally he admitted that two months earlier a large group ofmormon missionaries had landed on european soil 33

acta die kirchlichenkirch undlichen reliqiosen zustandestandeZu indeutschland betrbear de ao 185019351850 vol1935 illIII111lilliiili sachsischechsischesaSachlandeshauptarchiv

sischedresden p 132 verhandlungsprotokoll kiel

231.19082311908 iiib3681interestingly enough this prussian document is preserved

in a saxon police archive on free christian churches not inthe prussian files

ibid

0

in

32 sen zustaaustande

33

ch

narrativarratiI1 on

158

the transcript presents some interesting characteristicsfirst burgi speaking in first person regularly referred to

the church as a sect something that no missionary journal

letter or periodical or other mormon speaking to the police

did secondly the painstaking and succinct detail of burgisitinerant activities indicates careful preparation or editing

of his actual account since the events described extend back

over a year and a half third he provided names and addres-

ses of important individuals local mormon leadership and themission president and the locations of meetings fourth he

took great care to describe his activities in such a way thatthey did not break any prussian law particularly with regards

to emigration finally his explanation of meeting a former

companion arch willey at the train station appears con-

trivedthe first item strongly indicates the hand of a police

editor highhandedlyhigh correctinghandedly inaccuracy in recording

the second matter implies either an instruction to accuratelyprepare a narration of his movements or the presence of police

records against which his account might be checked 34 since

his possessions were in police custody an accurate account of

his travels might have been prepared providing names and

addresses of important local mormon figures and meeting placessmacks very muchnuch of someone merely admitting what is already

this actually occurred in the thomas biesinger accountsee riedel 428

individualslocalpresidentand

verymuch

34

159

known or gross naivete which does not correspond well with

how he avoided admitting to punishable offenses outside of

being a mormon in prussia As for meeting arch willey itseems more likely that burgi was trying to shield his com-

panion so that the kiel police would not be able to find him

the address which burgi gives for him is in hamburg technic-

ally an independent citystatecity notstate far from kiel but outside

of prussian police jurisdictionthe portrait of an intelligent young man dedicated to

his profession emerges from the pages of this transcriptwhere necessary he complied with local police even giving

them information possibly damaging to other individuals theindividuals which he named however were prussian citizensmore than likely known to the police and who had the protec-

tion of the prussian legal system as opposed to the american

missionaries who had fewer rights in prussia on the otherhand burgi carefully stipulated that his activities were

innocuous and legal finally in any way he could he shielded

his fellow missionaries while giving the impression of co-mplete compliance with his examiners it is unlikely that the

kiel police were fooled by his cooperation but their options

were essentially limited especially as the american consulsnow actively worked to release american mormons found

languishing in german jailsthe burgi transcript proves nothing by itself however

the preservation of a prussian document in a saxon police

for

160

archive file suggests a cooperative attitude between the

officials of the two states with regard to the prosecution and

expulsion of mormon missionaries also the strikingly dif-ferent nature of this preserved report from others dealing

with the missionaries offers the possibility that the prussian

police had begun to refine their methods of identifying and

expelling these irritating foreigners a development thatcould best occur after a kingdomwidekingdom policywide had been

established unfortunately more documents of this nature have

not turned up making any firm assertions along these linesspeculative at best

police persecution continued repeated statements by themormons that polygamy had been abolished and assertions thattheir doctrine did not threaten german culture politics or

society usually fell on deaf ears in 1909 however a

request was sent to the german consul at san francisco to send

his assessment of the mormon activities the twelvepagetwelve

response

page

by consul bopp comprises the most thorough and

insightful document that appears in the entire range of

prussian or other german government filesthe consul began his evaluation of the mormon problem by

looking at the earliest latterdaylatter saintday activities with

typical prussian bureaucratic thoroughness he carefullyexplicated the rise of joseph smith the emergence of polygamy

and the subsequent division of the main body of latterdaylattersaints

day

from those who later became known as the reorganized

161

latterdaylatter saintday church since much of his information came

from reorganized sources it was not surprising that he

carefully distinguished between the two faiths late in hisreport he even pointed out that unlike the majority of the

utah mormon missionaries the reorganized latterdaylatter saintday

missionary in germany never had trouble with the police he

then described the institution of polygamy in neutral terms

a perspective unusual among the german diplomatic corps and

prussian officials noting the practice was already decliningmoreover he admitted that breaking up existing polygamous

families to satisfy legality would label the majority of the

children as bastards and force the faithful wives to lose thesupport of their husbands he registered concern howeverhowe

over

verrverfa the latterdaylatter saintday doctrine that the church was

destined to overcome the world he statedI1 personally view as one of the main thoughts of mormondoctrine that mormonism casually presents itself asthe one correct form of the christian faithaithfalthalth which isdestined to conquer the world this must cause greatconfusion in uneducated circles and in a country likegermany where one is used to see in christianity one ofthe pillars of our political and social directions onecannot be indifferent to this threat 35

the social and cultural disruption for germany inherent

in the latterdaylatter saintday claims apparently disturbed him

deeply in his view converts to mormonism lost all thereasonable comfortable forms of christianity mormons

further served to alienate those people who viewed religion as

ibid

f

missionaries

iI1 n

form f

35

didistingustingudistingueisheddished

133137197

ameriamerlI1 can

162

superstition by providing an example of the very fanaticism

which was so repugnant to educated agnostic germans he

further argued that although german laws did not permit theextermination of mormonscormonsMor everymons effort should occur to deny

the latterdaylatter saintsday any more success in germany 36

this same worry about the corrupting influence of non-

orthodox german religion appears in an 1909 address by a

harvardeducated native of rttembergwiirttembergottemberg richard lempp to the

faculty and students at harvard divinity school lempp triedto portray the german view of religion in society and cultureto an american audience unused to german norms he expressed

the view that the government not the church held stewardship

over culture but that the state did not wish to exclude thechurch from a role in preserving culture lest its chiefmeans of access to the hearts of the people would be cut

off 37 he noted that every german born is immediately a

citizen of a nation and a member of a church the churches

ibidthe term which bopp uses to indicate a complete

elimination of mormons in germany is ausrottungausrottungr this sameword was used by the nazis to describe their policies towardsthe jews and other cultures they saw as inferior whetherbopp intended the total eradication of mormons by executioncannot be determined although it seems unlikely what ismore disturbing is the apparent ease with which he offers itas a solution to the preservation of german society andculture

richard lempp present religious conditions in germanyharvard theological review cambridge massachusetts harvarduniversity press 1910 38586385 86

harvard educated WU

off l37

36

37

rttembergtenberg

OQ39religionfrom this time forward until the outbreak of world war I1

all of the european missions particularly the british and

scandinavian as well as the swissgermanswiss seemedgerman to be under

repeated attacks by governments and the press A danish

convert who later left the church hans freece firstpublished an antimormonanti bookmormon in 1908 and then preceded to

ibidibid

163

though overseen by ecclesiastical consistoriesconsi essentiallystoriesstood under the jurisdiction of the state 38

in part because of this relationship the protestant

pastors took the active role in religious exercise while the

individual church member became passive accepting the eva-ngelical churchs presence and actions but not getting person-

ally involved As a consequence the german churches despite

endeavors like the inner mission to spiritually reclaim urban

workers seemed lempp argued to have lost the spiritualenthusiasm of the reformation and in fact were being suc-

cessfully assaulted by sects from england and america who

preached against modern theologytheolog and won converts by theirenthusiasm rather than doctrine interestingly enough

lempp like bopp blamed sectarian missionaries rather than

any internal lack of emotional satisfaction in the establishedgerman churches for driving the educated people away from

8798

y 11

38

39ibid

cessfully

87 98

164

lecture on mormon iniquities throughout denmark in 1911 40

similar difficulties beset missionaries in britain with

activities ranging from novels decrying mormon depravity to an

attack on a latterdaylatter saintday meeting at birkensteadBirk inenstead

1911igli 41 when mormon apostle rudger clawson who as european

mission president oversaw the activities of all the variouseuropean missions came to germany in the summer of 1910 to

evaluate the circumstances and attend a conference the police

arrested him and obtained a banishment decree against him 42

in december 1910 the german authorities exiled german mission

president thomas mckay and twenty other missionaries 43

during this anxious period in a rare departure from the

usual policy of suffering in silence fritz boede of derper stern

editorial staff responded to the missionary expulsions with a

lengthy editorial article citing christs warning and co-mfort to his disciples that while the world would hate them for

their actions it had hated him first john 1516181516 he18

described the missionary sufferings of stephen peter and

paul concluding with pauls admonition to the roman chris-tians to be obedient to political superiors at this junc-

ture however he varied from the typical interpretation

alexander 228229228

malcom

229

thorp winifred graham and the mormon image inengland journal of mormon history 108 alexander 230

millennial star 72476 july 28 1910

alexander 227

in19 11

40

41 inhis 1

42mil lennialdennial43

165

stating that pauls advice bound the believer only if the

government did not go beyond its rights by dictating what a

man mightightnight or might not believe 44 continuing his argument

boede took on the german press and their handling of the most

recent missionary expulsions condemning the sensationalistpress while noting that not all of the german newspapers held

mormons in contempt inferring that those who sought afterfacts would support the latterdaylatter saintday position 45

focusing on one of the latter the badischedischeradischeBa presse he

evaluated the newspapers account of the reasons that theprussian police gave as justification for their actions par-

ticularly since prussia was respected throughout the world as

a rechtstaatRecht orstaat a state governed by rule of law rather than

one ruled by arbitrary whim from the presses account of the

raid however boede culled the information that the basis forclosing the meeting was not polygamy or any other punishable

offense but the possibility which existed that the mormons

might offend the public order not that they actually had

anymore than any other nonorthodoxnon religiousorthodox group in berlinhad 46 he stated ironically the practice of exiling men

only because the possibility exists that they might transgress

44 einigeseinigerEini berfibertiberges die ausweisung der missionaremissionarellmissionaryMissio derpernarenarell stern4224824942248

ibid

249

ibid 250251

paul s

m

in

U

45

46

ticularly

250 251

ariesarles

166

the prussian laws is original 47 if that reasoning applied

everywhere prussia would be empty of foreigners in short time

since all visitors possessed the same potential criminalityeven more important to boede though was the official

admission that plural marriage did not occur among german mor

mons this small aside bore some importance because as had

been pointed out in other official memoranda the main reason

cited in the past for banishing missionaries was the doctrineof polygamy regardless of whether the mormons actuallypreached or practiced it boede concluded his editorial with

the observation that while god did not send woes upon hischildren he could provide the wherewithal to transform a

tragic situation into a positive experience 4841

other than these two replies to german banishmentsbanish thements

church did not appeal in the germanspeakinggerman pressspeaking for leni-ency whether this silence represented specific policy or an

attempt to avoid focussingfoc onussing the unpleasant downside of mis-

sionary work cannot be determined from the available materi-

als it seems likely however that the general church

leadership having seen the ineffectiveness of diplomatic co-mplaints and noting the ongoing baptismal success may have

opted to proceed with a lowered profile avoiding the german

authorities where possible and simply sending in new mission-

aries whenever banishment created a vacancy

ibidibid 252253

47

48ibid 252 253

sidentaident

167

for their part the various police and local officialsdid not pull back from their determined efforts to eliminate

the mormon missionary presence to that end they watched

known church members paying attention to reports of any new

baptisms one example of this surveillance appears in a 1912

frankfurt police report acting on information from the

husband of a newly baptized woman local police interviewed

her seeking specific information about the nature of thebaptismal ceremony and the identity of the missionaries who

participated or attended 49

their report stated that the missionaries in frankfurtat least had learned to avoid technical illegalities by

having the local members invite investigators to be baptized

also the missionaries had apparently schooled the members to

take care in how they answered police questions stressing the

fact that the missionaries did not encourage the individualsto be baptized A former church member reported that the

missionaries enlisted the aid of the members to avoid

discovery by the police and local officials the members

received encouragement to find prospective members let themissionaries teach the prospective candidates and then assume

the responsibility of persuading the investigators to accept

baptism the report concluded with a listing of currentmeeting times names of the local missionaries and results of

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen frankfurt am main koniglicheniglicheKonigpolizeipolizzi licheprasidentprisident tagebuchTage Sbuch III111ili no 939 16 october 1912

49acta KOnigpra

53searssaars

168

the efforts to expel the missionaries indicating a fullawareness of current mormon activities 50

one of the missionaries named in the report victorsears described the other side of the cat and mouse game he

and his colleagues played with the police in a series of

letters to his mother he related how he hid his vocation as

a missionary under the guise of being a student using student

identification from chicago to allay police suspicions As he

put it As my diploma is labeled utah it wouldnt do to use

it 51 A couple of weeks later he alluded to the impending

visit of a policeman who was to verify searss enrollment as

a student without any indication of concern 52 A week

later discussing a conference of missionaries he noted thatprussia had banished president mckay and that the other german

states showed11showed their respect by doing the same 1153 in

november he reported that his method of avoiding the attentionof the police had not succeeded 54 five months later he had

moved to the city of darmstadt in nearby hessedarmstadthesse todarmstadt

avoid being served with banishment papers 55 finally the

ibidvictor hugo sears letter to mother september 28 1910

unpublished papers ca 191019131910 LDS1913 archives salt lakecity

sears letter to mother october 10 1910

sears letter to mother october 16 1910

sears letter to mother november 15 1910

sears letter to mother april 21 1911

1151

53

50

51

52sears

54

55

11

52

53

befbeaore

169

mission president transferred sears to leipzig saxony where

he succeeded in overawing the local police officer by indig-

nantly stating his intention to study and if the police

bothered him he would leave town much as thomas biesinger had

done in munich years before 56

despite these sorts of tactics the police regularly

caught mormon missionaries sears informed his mother in a

january 1911 letter that 50 of the missionaries serving in

switzerland or germany had been banished from one place or

another and that 29 of the missionaries had suffered impri-

sonment 57 A stettin police report dated april 15 1912

listed the individuals who regularly spoke in latterdaylatter saintday

meetings in that city although a specific vocation such as

plumber appears next to the name of each speaker a parenth-etic qualification mormon missionary right below indicates

that the police remained aware of the missionaries identitiesin spite of their attempts at disguising their identityonly one person on the list hermann behling avoided summary

banishment because of his pomeranian citizenship even thatprotection appeared ephemeral once the police had observed hisparticipation in the meetings a sufficient number of times 5851

sears56 letter to mother april 29 1912

57sears letter to mother january 31 1911

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen regierungsprasident pr A ill111liiiiiilino 2550 april 15 1912

19121

suff icientscient

58acta regierungsprds ident

sonment

170

As noted earlier mormon missionaries had come to accept

expulsions with a certain equanimity sears felt so secure

that in a letter discussing his sisters imminent visit he

discounted the threat of banishment noting that if it hap-

pened the two siblings would then travel to vienna or some-

where in switzerland 59 the same flippancy did not prevail

in the instances of imprisonment serge ballif tried to reas-

sure parents of missionaries that very few of our elders

suffered in those prisons 60 john marion belnap recording

his 1908 stuttgart incarceration noted that the guards

treated him with disrespect provided poor food and shuffledhim from courtroom to courtroom in an attempt to have him

banished 61 sears who recounted every other hardship with

a sense of humor described a similar feeling of dismay during

his time in a breslau jail he spent several days therewithout opportunity to wash himself get clean clothes

acquire edible food or communicate with anyone outside of the

jail he only escaped the miserable surroundings by the

intervention of the local american consul being released on

christmas eve with a banishment order 62

sears letter to mother november 161912

serge L ballif conference reports salt lake cityspring 1909 79

61 john marion belnap papers 1908 LDS archivessears letter to mother december 25 1912

59

60

61john

62sears62

171

the efforts of the various police and judges to disrupt

the missionary activity in germany appear to have had an

effect baptisms in the swissgermanswiss missiongerman in the period

from 1911 to august 1914 fell from 706 to 353 respectively

this decline occurred despite an increase in the number of

missionaries called to serve in germany during the same

period emigration hovered between one hundred and one hundred

fifty participants annually 63

public vilification of the mormons had continued in a

respected catholic encyclopedia which had previously treatedthe mormons with gentle disregard a new strain of intellectualcontempt surfaced no longer citingitingbiting moderate source materi-

als the article took at face value such works as E E folksthe mormon monster 1900 W A linn the story of the mormons

1902 and pastor G A zimmers unter den mormonenMor 1908monen

which even the article admitted was biased the author drew

attention to the similarities between the mormons and themunster anabaptists always viewed with disdain by modern

germans with regard to polygamy and otherwise portrayed themormons as troubling local authorities from the beginning of

the movement 64

meanwhile political events had marched on pullingeurope into greater diplomatic strain paul schroeder com

anderson 201

die religion in geschichte und gegenwartgegenwarthGege bingentiibingenTUTiinwartverlag von J C B mohr 1913 band 4 504508504 508

effectact

surfaced c

anabaptistsalwaysgermanswith

63

64 ttl

ilslis

172

meritingmenting on the prevailing attitudes in europe in the period

from 1890 to 1914 observes that once germany had lost the

bismarckian system of diplomatic control of world politics in

1890 no other nation succeeded in rebuilding a dominant euro-

pean consensus britain france germany and russia allpulled at the fragile house of cards of peaceful coexistence

placing national interests ahead of international peace 65

the drive of wilhelm IIsIVsirs political regimen to establishgermanys place in the sun and alienation of the threetraditional great powers placed germany in alliance with

austria hungary then trying to reassert its importance by

expanding into the balkan territories of the ottoman empire

when the heir to the austrian throne was assassinated insarajevosara3evoSaraj bosniabesniaevo the entire structure swayed and collapsed ina period of weeks resulting in world war I1 concerned for

the safety of the missionaries the first presidency calledtheir emissaries out of germany the then swissgermanswiss

mission

german

president hyrum valentine personally traveled the

length of germany seeking out the missionaries and providing

them with the funds to go to liverpool and thence toamerica 66

finally the prussian policy of expulsion came to frui-tion but in the ensuing vicissitudes of the war the mormon

paul W schroeder world war I1 as galloping gertie Areply to joachim remak 11 journal of modern history 44 1972323325323

scharffs

325

55

0

65

his

66

173

presence was hardly missed moreover once the war had ended

the latterdaylatter saintsday sent their missionaries in again

despite the efforts of both the mormons and the germans to

force a change in the behavior of the other institutionneither side succeeded in altering the status quo

4force

conclusion

in july 1922 the german federal minister of the interiorissued a circular decree to prussian bureaucrats reversing theover halfcenturyhalf oldcentury official policy toward the mormon mi-ssionaries

since the end of the war numerous missionaries ofthe church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday areagain residing in germany on the basis of an oldpractice banishment was continually exercised againstmissionaries from the american mother church this prac-tice of banishment is no longer justifiable

in agreement with the federal office of foreignaffairs I1 must ask the prussian ministers of the inter-ior and science art and education to no longer hold tothe practice whereby the mere fact that the mission-aries are from the mormons in utah justifies theirbanishment as offensive foreigners it is more appr-opriate to test on a case by case basis whether themissionary through his actions shows himself to be anoffensive foreigner 1

with the same sweeping action that the prussian monarchy had

earlier initiated the expulsion of mormonscormonsMor themons representativeweimar government of postworldpost warworld I1 germany ended the policy

of universal banishment on terms similar to those which the

united states embassy under andrew D white had attempted toaccomplish in 1902

staatsarchivtstaatsarchiv dresden aktenaeten des ministeriums derauswartiqen angelegenheitenancreleqenheiten 9200 religionsgesellschafreliqionsgesellschaftensachsischechsischeSach landeshauptarchivsische dresden aubenministeriumAuBen nrministerium9200 handarchivHandar derchiv sachsischechsischeSach staatskanzleisische ergangenErg 19280angen

35 abteilung XVI abschabesch nr 6 a band I1 berlin NW 40july 10 1922 1I 4015

174

auswart iten tensa

sa ergangenl928060

sionaries

chch

175

by no stretch of the imagination can the prussianmormonprussian

struggle

mormon

be considered a major turning point in internationalrelations at best the conflict involved a few thousand

individuals american missionaries prussian police and clergy

and german mormons and never visibly affected even german

american relations let alone the rest of the world from one

perspective the entire conflict which reached a crescendo in

1902 was anticlimactic in that neither the prussians nor the

latterdaylatter saintsday ever seemed to clearly appreciate theopposing point of view nor could they work out a system of

coexistence both combatants struggled to assert their posi-

tion in changing circumstances prussia in a transforming eco-

nomy and society and the mormons in a less overtly politicalmore spiritually focused church

the relevance of these incidents thenthens must be sought ina different perspective by focusing on what did change theway the mormons went about getting the prussians to permit

missionary work the importance of the exchange emerges

although prussian officials successfully eliminated the rightof american mormon missionaries to operate legally in prussia

they did not end mormon missionary work in that kingdom on

a symbolic level then each contestant attempted to force itsperspective of right and wrong on the other when the mormons

stopped using government intervention and instead focused on

their main purpose in prussia preaching their doctrines and

seeking converts the conflict became much less relevant to

individualsamericanmormonsand

circumstancesprussia

changethe

workthe

prussiapreachingconvertsthe

176

the success of their goal and consequently the church con-

tinued to grow in germany 2

As the dominant state in the imperial german system

prussia struggled with the evolution of the internationalbalance of power while at the same time contending with

changes in its domestic social and economic framework the

transformation from an agricultural to an industrial power

the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday while holding

on to its goal of preaching its message in all the world had

begun to relinquish political control over its members emph-

asizing a more spiritual focus for its efforts in the new 20th

century these institutions faced profitless disagreement as

long as they both tried to assert complete control over theirconstituents the mormons appeared to have learned thislesson but the prussians seemed uncomfortable with the very

idea of trying such a radical outlook even if it could prove

beneficial for them

the prussian system of church and state relations needed

thorough revision the complicated system of the landesklrlandeskirchen while appropriate for a different society reached

unwieldy proportions as prussia had absorbed other german

it should be noted that a few of the elements which sup-port this conclusion have a conjectural basis rather than aclear onetooneone documentaryto correlationone showing cause andeffect in particular the impact of social democracy on prus-sian attitudes about mormons does not enjoy clear documentaryevidence howeverHowe carefulverrverf reading of contemporary prussiansentiments on that topic supports the contention that anyunorthodox ideas of the mormons would hurt their cause in theeyes of the prussian bureaucracy

21t

177

states the crazy quilt of prussian landeskirchenlandesklrchen begged fora new type of reformation which would simplify church admin-

istration so long as individual sovereign states retained a

role in the administration of the churches the temptation

would arise to exert social control through spiritual means

for short term political benefits even the earlier pietistmovement which had stressed individual religious fervor had

been institutionalized by a portion of the prussian government

and thus blunted as a tool of religious change the involve-

ment of the state in church matters in turn interfered with

the primary mission of the christian churches bringing the

christian heilsbotschaft to the world

the prussian governments inability to regulate religiousfeeling among its citizens became only too apparent during

bismarcks kulturkampf he fought to assert political controlover the catholic regions of prussia and germany and to bring

them in line with the system already in place in protestant

areas of prussia his failure to institute effective govern-

ment oversight over religious matters reflected a serious mis-

understanding of the individual nature of religious feelingattempts to force rather than persuade a religiouslyoriented person to change personal beliefs generally engenders

strong resistance which leads to open opposition this sortof resistance actually happened in the case of the german

catholics pressed by the imperial governments heavyhandedheavy

tacticshanded

for

feel ing

Landeskirchen

178

ironically both the welleducatedwell boppeducated and the reli-giously sophisticated lempp in their analysis of german spi-

ritual needs regarded state involvement in religion as esse-ntial to the survival of christianity in germany with the

lessons of the kulturkampf before them they failed toappreciate the value of personal enthusiasm however chaotic

in maintaining religious values to them the state church

culture needed to be preserved or everything of value cultur-ally and spiritually would be lost yet after world war I1

dealing with a government potentially hostile to any statechurch lempp completely reversed his earlier contentions and

praised the value of personal commitment rather than stateenforcement in preserving the christian community 3

mormon missionary work hit on this very nerve of indivi-dual religious feeling the latterdaylatter saintday faith developed

in the crucible of american frontier fervor the passionate

often intemperate nature of american religion offended cul-

tured german sensibilities with the excess of emotion lempp

politely termed enthusiasm but which bopp and the evangeli-

cal ober kirchenrath saw as repugnant fanaticism the em-

otional intensity of the mormon message ignored the concept of

enlightened rationalism as well as statemandatedstate religiousmandated

and social sobriety

richard J lempp church and religion in germany theharvard theological review 14 1921 35

4theathe

179

lempp recognized the strength of this component of ameri-

can creeds and became concerned that the torch of german reli-giosity might be passed from the main churches to these u-pstart angloamericananglo invadersamerican 4 he would not however admit

that traditional german churches lacked the spiritual ardor

that appealed to many committed christianslempp was not alone in the distrust of american religious

tradition germany effectively divided among calvinistlutheran and roman catholic traditions did not appreciate

pluralistic american religious tolerance the relative hom-

ogeneity of german society prevented bureaucrats clergy and

the majority of the educated classes alike from comprehending

the contributions of the mormons in religious and socialareas 5

the works of moritz busch eduard meyer and the authors

of the various respected lexicons repeatedly described mormons

in terms of humorous derision the perception of latterdaylattersaints

day

by these representatives of the german intelligentsiaas an exotic cult appropriately fostered on the wild american

he term angloamericananglo isamerican more applicable here sincemany of the religions whose possible influence so concernedlempp came from england as well as the united states seelempp present religious conditions in germany 979997

aa5a

99

description of german society as homogenous does notimply that the various dialects and other cultural divisionsceased to exist within the empire rather in religious termsthe centurieslongcenturies religiouslong traditions had developed into astatus quo which had little room for new nonnativenon move-ments

nativethis lack of ethnic heterogeneity would bedevil german

society throughout the 20th century

from0

emotenot ionallonallonai

180

frontier did not help the mormon cause instead of being

accorded the status of a noble savage since the utahbasedutah

missionaries

based

had received the benefit of christian knowledge

they qualified as degenerate barbarians threatening the

civilized world with misapplied scriptural interpretationsone wonders if the mild derision of the educated german

classes reflects a general discomfort with emotional religionmaybe the american tradition represented by mormon beliefswent too far in its fervor for the germans away from educated

foundations into regions of unrefined uncultivated and irra-tional adoration

the presence of mormon missionaries however posed no

genuine threat to prussian ecclesiastical or cultural stabi-lity the number of mormons living in germany by 1911igli 514251142

is tiny compared the 48000000 imperial german citizens of

the same period moreover no prominent germans joined the

church prior to 1914 the influential upper classes with theexception of karl maeser and his family displayed no interestwhatsoever in mormon perspectives

the reaction of the prussian government to the mormon

presence in 1853 and again in 1902 seems extreme in relationto the size significance and seriousness of the menace

the contemptuous attitude of the prussian magistrates reportedby orson spencer in 1853 appears to have found continuity and

equivalence in the disdain with which the ministers of the

interior clerical affairs and foreign affairs dismissed the

191151142

in

181

right of mormon missionaries to proselyte in prussia at the

turn of the 20th century the only difference between them isthat by 1902 prussian ministers had discovered more reasons

for concern about the latterdaylatter saintday presence while mormon

emigration the main focus of the 1853 decision no longer

threatened the population or economic base of prussia mormon

doctrine and culture did present some new worriesworrles polygamy

and political radicalism

the documents of the prussian police filesflies and american

diplomatic correspondence from the 1880s until 1909 regularly

refer to mormon polygamy in 1890 president woodruff issued

the manifesto a directive finally confirmed as binding by the

first presidency announcement in april 1904 of excommunication

against future offenders this fifteen year lag in forcefuladherence to monogamy provided prussian officials with thepremise as noted by the evangelical ober kirchenrath thatmormons did not take the prohibition of polygamy seriouslyhad not really changed their stripes and therefore offered a

threat to the moral fiber of german society in factpolitical leaders in both the united states and prussia had

reason to believe that the mormons still held to the idealsand practice of polygamy despite the 1890 manifesto

with the available materials it has not been possible todetermine precisely whether or not mormon polygamy indeed

threatened prevailing german moral standards but that pro-

spect seems unlikely the popular publications of busch von

worriespolygamy

f i lesies

182

schlagentweit and meyer condemned the practice of polygamy out

of hand as a mockery of the important social and moral conve-ntion of marriage there can be no doubt that prussian offi-cials viewed the latterdaylatter saintday practice of plural marriage

with disgust and apprehension with the continuing disappro-

bation of the 1530 german anabaptist polygamous experiments

and the contemporary evangelical missionary campaigns against

polygamy among non europeans it appears unlikely that the

general german public in the nineteenth century would have

ever accepted polygamy

polygamy more than likely stood as a powerful indica-

tion of the worst aspects of the fanatical excesses of mormon-

ism to the prussiansprussianoPrus effortssians by the church to downplay theimportance of this belief had a twofoldtwo negativefold impact on

latterdaylatter saintday credibility so long as the principleremained in the doctrine and covenants and evidence existed

that polygamous marriages continued to be performed prussian

government officials could continue to view the mormons as

licentious extremists and justify their prejudice and rejec-tion of mormonism as a christian faith when the church

leadership denied that polygamous marriages had continued tobe performed after 1890 the prussians could assert their view

that the mormons had no moral integrity and as such did not

deserve permission to proselyte in prussia

As plural marriage likely did not threaten german public

morals its true role may have been to act as a screen to

183

cover official concerns over the other threat which mormons

brought with them that of political radicalism the latterday saints had had their own stormy history of difficultieswith political authority in the united states but when they

arrived in prussia the missionaries behaved as if they could

rely on american religious privileges despite their residence

in a more authoritarian religiously conservative society As

bopp and others pointed out since the latterdaylatter saintsday had

defied national laws in the united states they could be

expected to evade prussian laws as wellno prussian elite whether aristocratic or professional

would condone the idea of breaking laws or defying the stateto accomplish any end the romantic notion of an organic

state with natural progression coupled with the nascentprussian militaristic desire for order left no room for the

defiant actions of the mormon missionaries regardless of how

harmless they appeared the persistence of the american

mormons must have disturbed prussian cultural sensibilitiesthe dominant american identity of the church despite its

claim to universality raised also some concern among prussian

officials because of the plurality of the united states poli-

tical system although two main political parties dominated

american governmental institutions few restrictions existedto regulate freedom of expression As william lang reportedto congress in 1887 the formation in america of a branch of

the social democratic party by germanamericangerman immigrantsamerican

def led

elitewhether

churchdespiteuniversalityraised

184

deeply disturbed the german governments including prussia

rather than provide an excuse for the german states to outlaw

mormonism because of ties to the social democratic movement

mission leaders dissolved branches which had ties to the

social democrats

the german consuls in denver and san francisco approached

their assignment to evaluate utah mormons seriously while

their accounts invariably focus on the grimmer side of mormon

social and political behavior they did not stoop to making up

facts thus the topics with which they concerned themselves

reflect in some measure those topics which disturbed german

officials by 1907 the german consular report had switched

its focus from polygamy to concern over future mormon politi-cal power in the united states and the role of german imm-

igrants within the church 6

finally the church like the social democrats enjoyed

most of its success among the german lower classes one of

the few benefits to the mormons from the 1902 banishment orderwas that a better class of people showed interest in themormon message with the exception of karl G maeser and a

few others german mormon immigrants to utah did not figureprominently in educated professions that statement does not

mean that the immigrants lacked ability or intelligence but

opps 1909 report is perhaps the final flirtation withconcern about mormon polygamy subsequent police files reviewthe 1902 banishment decree emigration and actual missionaryactivities rather than polygamy

6bopps

185

simply that german converts as a rule came from the working

and lower middle classes rather than from the nobility intel-ligentsia and other social echelons which exerted influence in

legislative and bureaucratic circles in a hierarchicalsociety such as that of imperial germany which laid a great

deal of importance on social standing prussian officialscould easily continue to ignore the lower class mormon point

of view when making decisions regarding the future of latterday saints in prussia

the prussian government never did address the issue ofmormon political influence the immorality of polygamy and

the concerns about emigration served to hide the very definiteuncertainty which the officials felt about social democracy

and other social experiments officials kept a close watch on

the churchs activities however and were quick to report any

sort of behavior which might resemble political radicalism

the incredible amount of attention paid by the prussian

government towards an obscure american denomination points to

the possibility that they were in fact aware that the world

was undergoing massive change but could not conceive of how

to affect such a change in prussia and still retain theirunique cultural identity prior to world war I1 lempp statedthat without the support of the government church affairswould not stay unaffected by outside influences if thegovernment was unable to conceive of new responses to the pro-

blems which began to arise with the changes in prussia and the

ligentsia

186

rest of germany their repressive strategies begin to make

sense if no change was permitted to occur then the threatof new ideas such as those of mormonism would not develop

while the prussian government certainly demonstrated

their misunderstanding of mormon motives and activities the

latterdaylatter saintsday also showed their misconceptions about thegerman community and what constituted acceptable behavior inprussia although the mormon missionaries never sought an

adversarial role with the prussian government or other german

authorities they also never demonstrated an understanding or

appreciation for the interrelationship of the native reli-gious political and social structures developed over cen-

turies in response to german experiences

joseph F smiths 1875 declaration failed to recognize

the significance of the standing 1853 decree against mormons

in prussia the narrower german perception of religious freed-

om whether smith was correct or incorrect in his recomme-

ndation to the missionaries to preach without obtaining offi-cial permission for proselyting his counsel helped set thestage for the collision of mormon expansion and prussian

authority twentyfivetwenty yearsfive later 7

7the7ttleathe possibility exists that both the missionary work andthe relations with the prussian government might have beenbetter had the missionaries studied german history and culturealong with the language while such preparation offered noguarantee of softening the governmental positions the mi-ssionaries might have determined ways to achieve their goalswithout finding themselves in a nowinno situationwin

prussiathe

sionaries

187

along the same lines orson spencer dismissed the prus-

sian alliance of church and government as a recurrence of

ancient despotism designed to keep the people in spiritualand intellectual bondage his german contemporary moritz

busch leveled similar charges at the emerging mormon commu-

nity in utah in fact the separation of church and statewhich the latterdaylatter saintsday so hoped to enjoy in germany did

not develop in the great basin along the american model untildecades after the united states sent in its own nonmormonnon

territorialmormon

administrators to assure the division of power

in a general sense the mormons were just as concerned about

total control as the prussiansprussiansa a comparison that would not

have sat well with the church leaders of that time

the issue of polygamy eventually forced mormon politicaldevelopment to follow more traditional american patterns

missionaries in prussia generally did not engage in polygamy

with the known exception of hugh cannon but the practice was

extensive in utah once the united states had claimed the

territory which included mormon settlements the church became

increasingly vulnerable to government interference in daytoday

day

to

affairs because of laws forbidding bigamy latterdaylattersaint

day

attempts to have polygamy recognized as a legitimateform of marriage or to establish selfruleself inrule order to avoid

giving up the practice failed unlike the catholic church ingermany during the kulturkampf the mormons eventually had toaccept the moral dictates of the united states congress this

in

188

unpleasant ordeal gave the church a model of how to accomm-

odate political authority while retaining the essence of an

important doctrine

the events which led to the prussian expulsion order of

1902 also demonstrated mormon misunderstanding of german reli-gious and political culture appeals to the united statesembassy to intervene on behalf of the banished missionariesmerely complicated matters by adding a layer of bureaucracy

between the missionaries and the officials who would decide

the future of mormons in prussia the latterdaylatter saintday

leaders did not seem to perceive that the 1871 german consti-

tution reserved the authority to regulate religions to themember states

the situation was further complicated as prussia had

expanded during the nineteenth century so that a variety of

regions such as hannover existed within the kingdom with

their own history identity and tendencies it follows then

that the attitudes of officials within prussia regarding a

mormon peril would vary from locale to locale secretaryjackson of the united states embassy actually noticed thiscondition and used it in his request for the prussian govern-

ment to relocate the missionaries banished from tilsit to some

other prussian region

this variant view of the mormon threat highlights an

element of this study which differs from other treatments of

related topics the role of the bureaucracy in pursuing the

regionssuch

189

expulsion of the mormonscormonsMor unlikemons american and british mormon

persecution the prussians did not have a number of incensed

private individuals such as john cook who found it necessary

to rail against the mormonscormonsMor rathermons the civil bureaucracy

notably the interior ministry especially the judiciary and

the police were the instruments of harassment moreover

once a decision had been laid down regarding the mormonscormonsMor themons

conservative nature of bureaucratic decisionmakingdecision nevermaking

seriously reconsidered its position it is precisely thisfaceless indifference which makes bopps extermination recom-

mendation even slightly plausible and so disturbing

in spite of government opposition the latterdaylatter saintday

work in prussia prospered the most when the missionariessimply adapted to whatever complication the government threw

in their way the success in the post1902post years1902 occurred in

spite of repeated attempts by the prussian officials to elimi-

nate the mormon presence by focusing on their message ratherthan tangling with the government over religious recognition

the missionaries built up the local church membership by

thirty percent in seven years 190419111904 the1911 prussiangovernment on the other hand enjoyed the same success in theelimination of the mormons as it experienced in reorientingthe catholics during the kulturkampf none

both the prussian government and the mormon mission

leadership acted to force the other side to accept the vali-dity of their position in all of the police records perio

ministryespeciallypolicewere

mendation

190

dicalcical articles and personal records the idea that the otherparty might have a reason for its position and thus a justi-fication for its actions does not appear this narrowness of

vision seriously affected the creative element in solving thedilemma by centering the issue on an us vs them attitudethe larger vista of what should be accomplished became

obscured

when the prussians forced the missionaries to leave the

state the mormons had to deal with the larger issue theimportance of ongoing missionary endeavor by working out

methods to continue placing missionaries in prussia they

dabbled in subterfuge but the proselyting continued the1922 decree vindicated their legal position but the mission

did not wait two decades until it could officially operate

again in a symbolic sense then the mormons outflanked theprussiansprussianoPrus notsians by victory in the courts but by preservingsight of their purpose in the heat of the dispute instead of

wasting their energies without addressing their real goal

issuethe

fication

191

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licheundrichts medizinischeMedizi angelegenheitennische berlin W 20

september 1902

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen iiibl505674260 14 december 1902

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen ausweisung der mormonenMormonen 1902

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen gross herzogliche ministerium desinnernfinnern no 3707.25828370725828 17 december 1902

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen ihib 44514529 section 4 9 january1903

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen J nr 1 pr 457 hannover polizeipolizziprasidentprisidentPrasi 1904dent

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen koniglichesniglichesKonig ministeriumliches des auswartigen angelegenheiten nr iijbill15 16527 70931 12 october1907

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen unnumbered consular report 18november 1907

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen konigliches ministerium der auswartigen angelegenheiten 7 may 1909 nr

GI nr 621

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen regierungsprasident pr aillaliialli no2550 15 april 1912

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen

bregierungspra

ID 491

oft lilb8266 no1197

ko

jjjb505674260

pra

ko

regierungspra2550f

Konig liches

Ababschriftschrift vom 11 6321 kaiserlichKaideutschen

serlichkonsulatKon 29sulat april 1912

nig

nig

sidentaident

ckeacke

197

acta der mormonenMor betrbearmonen frankfurt am main koniglicheniglicheKonig polizeipolizzilicheprasidentprisidentPrasi tagebuchTagedent Sbuch 111IIIillili no 939 16 october 1912

consular reports on emigration from europe from house exec-utive document 157 february 9 1887 no 76 april 1887government printing office washington DC 1887

deutscher reichstag stenoqrarhischestenocrraphische berichterichtegerichteBe beruber dieverhandlungenverhandluncren des deutschen reichstareichstaqesreichstag 25 january 1878reichstag aktenstuaktenstiick 44

0 stenoar4rhischestenoqraphische berichterichtegerichteBe uberber die verhandlungenverhandlunqen desdeutschen reichstaaesreichstagesReich reichstagstages aktenstuckeaktenstu nr 372march 1903

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 518 1898

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes jacksonpatches to hay no 84 1903

diplomatic despatchesdesratchesdispatchesDes whitepatchesRatches to hay no 555 29 september1898

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 562 5 october 1898

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 610 18 november1898

diplomatic desratchesdespatchesdispatchesDes jacksonnatchespatchesratches to hay no 612 21 november1898

dilplomaticdiplomatic desipatchesdespatchesdispatchesDesDesi whitepatches to hay no 717 26 january1899

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 748 18 february1899

dilplomaticdiplomatic desipatchesdespatchesdispatchesDesiDes whitepatches to hay no 1892 14 march 1902

diplomaticdi desdatchesdespatchesdispatchesDesolomatic whitepatches to hay no 1932 26 april 1902

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes jacksonpatches to hay no 1932 12 august1902

diplomatic despatchesdispatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 2049 28 august1902

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 2075 9 september1902

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes whitepatches to hay no 2093 berlin 2october 1902

KOpra

rom

U

ck

U

nig

Reichsta

arlomirlom 1

198

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes towerpatches to hay no 83 9 april 1903

diplomatic despatchesdesratchesdispatchesDes personalpatchesRatches no number tower to hay28 april 1903

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes towerpatches to hay no 93 30 april 1903

diplomatic despatchesdesratchesdispatchesDes towerpatchesRatches to hay no 98 8 may 1903

diplomatic dispatchesdespatchesDes towerpatches to hay no 422 30 july 1904

diplomatic instructions hay to jackson no 677 10 december1898

diplomatic instructions hay to white no 949 17 october1899

diplomatic instructions hay to jackson no 1027 31 march1900

diplomatic instructions personal no number hay to tower3 march 1903

diplomatic instructions hay to tower no 47 15 april 1903

embassy of the united states of america note verbale toimperial german foreign office 30 june 1902

papers relating to foreign relations government printingoffice washington DC 1898

papers relatincrrelating to foreiaforeignforeib relations government printingoffice washington DC 1906

papers relating to foreign relations government printingoffice washington DC 1907

papers relating to foreign relations government printingoffice washington DC 1908

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alexander thomas G mormonism in transition chicagouniversity of illinois press 1986

alienallenailen james B and leonard glen M the story of the latterday saints salt lake city utah deseret book company1976

D aticabic

pg derspers

0 10

in

1850 1890

n

horel n

erreffers 187119141871princeton

1914new jersey princeton university press 1976

craig gordon the germans new york G putnamsPutna sonsmrsmls1982

guntherntheranther dettmer die ost und westpreubischenwestpreufiischen verwaltuverwaltuncrsverwaltzbehordenhordenbenordenbe im kulturkampf heidelberg 1958

die religion in geschichte und gecrenwart tubingenbingen germanyverlag von J C B mohr 1913 band 4

easterlin richard perlman M and thomas dorothy swaineeds demographic monographs vol 7 international migra-tions ed walter wilcox new york gordon and breachscience publishers 1969

colcoi

Kulkuiturkardenaden

199

anderson jeffrey mormonscormonsMor andmons germany 191419331914 A1933 historyof the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday ingermany and its relationship with the german governmentsfrom world war I1 to the rise of hitler MA thesisbrigham young university 1991

anderson margaret lavinia the kulturkampf and the courseof german history central european journal 19 march1986

arrington leonard J early mormon communitarianismunitarianismComm andstewardship western humanities review 7 spring 1953

utah state agricultural collegemonograph series vol 2 logan utah 1954

arrington leonard J and bitton davis the mormonexperience new york alfred A knopf 1979

ashliman D L the image of utah and the mormons innineteenthcenturyineteenthnineteenthnineteenth germanycentury utah historical quarterlyOuartquart35

erlysummer 1967 209227209

bader

227

karl siegfried dorfgenossenschaft und dorfgemeindedorfcremeindeweimar germany herman bohlaushlausbohraus nachfolger 1962

born karl erich structural changes in german social andeconomic development at the end of the nineteenth cen-tury 11 in imperialIm germanvgermanygermanaGermaderialverial editednv and introduced byjames J sheehan new york new viewpoints 1987 modernscholarshipScholar onshiv european history henryahenry A turner generaleditor

cecil lamar the german diplomatic serviceServic

0

N

BO

his

GU

beho kulturka4

TU

mi0t ionslons

Ordervilie utah A pioneer mormon experiment ineconomic organization

Orordervilieordervillederville

200

ernst justus geschichte der deutsch sprechende missionunpublished manuscript LDS church archives

evans ellen lovell the german center party 187019331870carbondale

1933illinois southern illinois university press

1981

evans richard J rethinking german history nineteenthcentury germany and the origins of the third reichlondon alienallenailen and unwin 1987

groh john E nineteenth century german protestantism thechurch as social model washington DC universitypress of america inc 1982

halecki oscar borderlands of western civilization newyork the ronald press company 1981

helmreich ernst christian the german churches under hitlerdetroit michigan wayne state university press 1979

hill donna joseph smith the first mormon garden city newyork doubleday & company inc 1977

hardy W carmon solemn covenant the mormon polygamouspassagepass chicago illinois university of illinois press1992

holborn hajo A modern history of germany 184019451840 new1945york alfred A knopf 1969

huber ernst rudolf and huber wolfgang staat und kirche im19 und 20 jahrhundertJahr dokumenteDokuhundert zurmente geschichte desdeutschen staatskirchenrechts vol 2 staat und kirche imzeitalterZei destalter hochkonstitutionalismus und des kulturkultarkampfskampas 1848189018481890111848 1890189011 berlin duncker & humblothumbletHum 1976blot

jonas manfred the united states and germany ithaca newyork cornell university press 1984

kramer hans deutsche kulturkultar zwischenzw1schenischenzwischerZw 1871 und 1918handbuchHand derbuch kulturgeschichte frankfurt am main westgermany akademische verlagsgesellschaftverlagsgesellschaf athenaionathenasionAthe 1971naion

lamprecht karl deutsche geschichte der aunalungtungngstentungstenagstensten vergangenVergheit

angenund gegenwarthgegenwartGege berlinnwart weidmannscheWeidmann buchhandlungsche

1913 vol 2 geschichte der innerenfinneren und uberenauberenauburen politikholitikin den siebzigersieb undziger neunzigerneun jahrenziger des 19 jahrhundarts

part

0

ger

0

tiu

A

ionlon 0

rousfous

nteranter

immkeimmki ration

nchenachen

ndungneung

201

ferdinand lassalle 1 chambers biographical dictionarydictdiactcambridge united kingdom cambridge university press1988

moltmann glinter german emigration to the united statesduring the first half of the nineteenth century as asocial protest movement in germany and america essayson problems of international relations and immigrationed hans L trefousse brooklyn college studies onsociety in change no 21 ed bala K karoly new yorkbrooklyn college press 1980

nipperdeyNipp thomaserdey deutsche geschichte 186619181866 volume1918 2

machstaatMach vorstaat der demokratieDemok munchenratie verlag chbeckcheeckCH19

Beck

nichols james hastings history of christianity 165019501650secularization

1950of the west new york the ronald press

company 1956

pierard richard V separation of church and state in theamerican and german constitutions 11 in liberty and lawreflections on the constitution in american life andthought edited and introduced by ronald A wells andthomas askew grand rapids michigan WB eerdsmanherdsmanpublishing company 1987

pommerin reiner derper kaiser und amerika vienna bohlaubahlauverlag 1986

riedel albert S die geschichte der deutschsiprachigendeutschsprachicren missionensimonen der kirche jesu christi der heiligenheiliqenheiligerHeihel derligenilgen letztenletztertage von der grunduncr bis 1900 salt lake city utahservice press 1971

roberts brigham H comprehensive history of the church vol5 salt lake city utah deseret news press 1930

rohlrohi J C G germany without bismarck berkeley californiauniversity of california press 1967

eda sagarra A social history of germany 164819141648 london1914methuen & co ltd 1977

scharffsscharff gilbert mormonism in germany salt lake city utahbookcraft 1970

SchoSchofschoberlberiterlberlweriwerl ingrid amerikanischeAmerika einwanderuncrwerbunqeinwanderungwerbungnische indeutschland 184519141845 stuttgart1914 west germany franzsteinerverlagSteiner 1990Verlag

gu

ess

trebe la

mu

thou

BOhlau

gru

rdh11

s ger

k-ousse

blau

centucantu

202

paul W schroeder world war I1 as galloping gertie A replyto joachim remak journal of modern history 44 1972

schnabel franz deutsche geschichte im neunzehnten jahrhundert volume 4 die religiosenreligibsenRelireil aftenkraftenklaftenkraKrgibsen freiburgftenaften imbreisgauBreis germanygau herder & co GMBH verlagsbuchhandlunghandlanghand 1937lung

sperber jonathon popular catholicism in nineteenthcenturynineteenthgermany

centuryprinceton new jersey princeton university

press 1984

thorp malcom winifred graham and the mormon image inengland journal of mormon history 6 1979 107121107

von

121

petersdorff herman et al eds bismarck die gesammeltewerke berlin 1924351924 1533235 cited in ronald J rossenforcing the kulturkampf in the bismarckian state and

the limits of coercion in imperial germany the journalof modern history september 1984 56 456482456

ward

482

WR faith and fallacy english and german perspectivesfives in the nineteenth century in religion and philo-sophy in the united states of america proceedingsProceed ofinas thegermanamericangerman conferenceamerican at paderbornPader julyborn 29august29 august1is 1986 ed peter freese essen west germany verlagdie blaue eule 1987

woycke james birth control in germanygermanvgermana 187119331871 london1933routledge 1988 the wellcome institute series in thehistory of medicine ed by W F bynum and roy porter

hist

his 19791

his

Germanv

nschenaschengrundsagrundzatze

rdenaden

203

APPENDIX A

1853 prussian expulsion decree

Es sind in verschiedenen theilen der monarchie sowleberhauptuberhauptuber inhaupt nordlichenrdlichennord deutschlanddeutschlandeDeutschlichen abgesandteland der sekterekte dermormonenMor ausmonen amerika erschienen und ihre lehren und einzelneeinschriftenSchriftschriffen

zelneberilbertiber dieselben zu verbreitenver diesebreiten bestrebungen

verdienenver abgesehendienen von den vorwiinschen welche gegen diegrundsatze jener sekterekte berilbertiber die ehen und einigeneiniger andere solchegolchegegenstuckegegenstiickeGegen erhabenstucke sind deshalbdeshalo die besonderensonderenbe aufmersamkeitder behordenbeh6rdenhordenbenordenBe weil ihmlhnn vernehmenVer nachnehmen die mormonenMor ansiedlunmonengen in amerika noch nicht die zur bildungwildung eines staats erforerborderlicheberlicheder bevolkerungszahllkerungszahlliche haben und die upterhaupter der sorte deshalb bemuht sind auswandererwandererAus aus europa dahin zu ziehensiehen sodarf also der verdachtVerd naheliegenacht dab die hier auftretendenabgesandten es sich zum geschaftgeschaschaftGe machen dieseitige unterthanen zur auswanderung zu verleitenver

dieleiten

koniglicheniglichekonig regierungRegieliche hatrung daher die polizeibehordenpolizeibehomit anweisungAnwei zusung versehenverdehenver dabsehen sie auf das erscheinenscheinenEr derarberartigen abgesandten mit aufmerksamkeit achten dieselbendie vorkomgorkomselbenmenden falls ausweisenaus oderweisen wenn hinreichende griindegriinke dazucazusich finden ihre gerichtliche verfugung wegen ubertretungbertretungbertre destung

114 des strafgesetzbuchs veranlassenveran

berlinlassen

den 26 april 1853der minister des innernfinnern

U no

Uvorwu

U

bevo ha

ftko

grundeU

en dieselben

rd

nig

&cac etc that act remains the law of the land asits continuing provisions which in the revision of the sta-tutes of the united states made in 1874 reads as follows

SEC 5352 every person having a husband or wife living who marriesanother whether married or single in a territory or otherplaceother overplacewhich the united states have exclusive jurisdiction is guilty of bigamyand shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars andby imprisonment for a term not more than five years but this sectionshall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage whose hus-band or wife by such marriage is absent for five successive years and isnot known to such person to be living nor to any person by reason of anyformer marriage which has been dissolved by decree of a competent courtnor to any person by reason of former marriage which has been pronouncedvoid by decree of a competent court on the ground of nullity of themarriage contract

whatever doubt if any has heretofore existed as to theefficiency of the law above cited and in the intent of thegeneral government to enforce it has now been terminated by

204

APPENDIX B

the evarts circular instructing american diplomats to takeaction against mormon missionary efforts in foreign lands

department OF STATEwashington DC august 9 1879

sir the annual statistics of immigration into the unitedstates show that large numbers of immigrants come to ourshores every year from the various countries of europe for theavowed purpose of joining the mormon community at salt lakein the territory of utah under the auspices and guidance ofthe emissaries and agents of that community in foreign partsthis representation of the interests of mormonism abroadwhich has been carried on for years is understood to havedeveloped unusual activity of late especially in I1among other countries where it has unfortunately obtained agreater or less foothold

the system of polygamy which is prevalent in the comm-unity of utah is largely based upon and promoted by theseaccessions from europe drawn mainly from the ignorant clas-ses who are easily influenced by the double appeal to theirpassions and their poverty held out in the flattering pictureof a home in the fertile and prosperous region where mormonismhas established its material seat

inasmuch as the practice of polygamy is based upon a formof marriage by which additional wives are sealed to the menof that community these socalledso marriagescalled are pronouncedby the laws of the united states to be crimes against the sta-tutes of the country and punishable as such

on the 1st of july 1862 the congress of the unitedstates passed an act chap XXXVI expressly designed as ap-pears from its title to punish and prevent the practice ofpolygamy in the territories of the united states and otherplaces

205

the recent decision of the supreme court the highest tribunalof the land sustaining the constitutionality of thislegislation and affirming the conviction and punishment ofoffenders against that law

under whatever specious guise the subject may be pre-sented by those engaged in instigating the european movementto swell the numbers of the lawdefyinglaw mormonsdefying of utah thebands and organizations which are got together in foreignlands as recruits cannot be regarded as otherwise than a deli-berate and systematic attempt to bring persons to the unitedstates with the intent of violating their laws and committingcrimes expressly punishable under the statute as penitentiaryoffenses

no friendly power will of course knowingly lend itsaid even indirectly to attempts made within its bordersagainst the laws and government of a country wherewith it isat peace with established terms of amity and reciprocal rela-tions of treaty between them while even were there noquestion involved of open and penal infraction of the laws ofthe land every friendly consideration of comity shouldprevail to prevent the territory of a friendly state frombecoming a resort or refuge for the crowds of misguided menand women whose offenses against morality and decency would beintolerable in the land from which they come

it is not doubted therefore that when the subject isbrought to its attention the government ofwill take such steps as may be compatible with its laws andusages to check the organization of these criminal enterprisesby agents who are thus operating beyond the reach of the lawof the united states and to prevent the departure of thoseproposing to come hither as violators of the law by engagingin such criminal enterprises by whomsoever instigated

you are instructed therefore to present the matter tothe government of through theminister of foreign affairs and to urge earnest attention toit in the interest not merely of a faithful execution of thelaws of the united states but of the peace good order andmorality which are cultivated and sought to be promoted by allcivilized countries you will fortify your representations onthe subject by citation of any facts which may come to yournotice concerning emigration of this character from

and to this end the consular officers in your jur-isdiction have been instructed to communicate to you whatinformation with regard thereto may come to their knowledgeyour timely protest in cases where the probable departure ofmormon emigrants is reported or known to you would prove aweighty auxiliary to the general representations you are nowinstructed to make you are also authorized in your discre-tion to call attention to this subject and the determinedpurpose of this government to enforce this law and eradicatethis institution through the public press of the principal

off icersacers inisdiction

206

cities or ports of the country as you may find useful towardsthe end in view

I1 desire to be informed of the steps taken by you underthese instructions and of the disposition shown in referenceto the same by the government to which you are accredited

I1 am &cacWM M EVARTS

NOTE A similar instruction was sent to consular officersdirecting them to cooperate with the diplomatic officers ofthe united states in the premises

schensebensoben 1issionarenkisslonarender mornonengemormonenge7

berlderlderi ch 6ersta4vteate regierungsRegie ag-

or

rungs

bertholdbertholdeberthoid if16

anaan1 ag or

evangeEvangoevanto liura der kirche jema christchristi zu

arvjrvjrr ipriiprn

meindernelndemeindef

kglprministdeslniicff

0

r

b

jkyrzl9p2

n

t

b2

evangeliumevangoliuraevanselium

predigerpredicenpredigen und hier anh5ngeranhingerhIngerachingerAn zu rowinnengowinnenRogo

suzu

pi

winnen

welchenweichen

fid

2lweckezoweckenowecke

alvplvpim

sie auch schriffenschrlftenschriftenSchriftUAAA

nichnach dem rustervuster1 der11 beisfutqn1 traktatrakkaau&u

te

s

vsrteilen

4

ttt t

irsionrrissionar john ranzenbergerranzcnbqrscrranzanbergerrenzanRanzan undberger drdor isrismis

jjrsir

asorksor

iidild

elkanlelkana

aestoraessor

weelwati

at3ttractatetraktateraktateTrakrak

cac7

gllederglieaerelledertate der heiligerheiligenHei derligen letztenletzter ta-c

sefiegiegge w alias komonenuormoncnmomonen

mryrmrmr

4110j tv

arvurv r m IL jv

207

APPENDIX C

gumbinnengumbinnerGumbin regierungsnen prasidentspresidents report

11111111 qumwnen ill maema r3e C

arprip b431

B t rlr l

die ausweisungauswelaung vori zwelanizwelani

e6trrf tr i

ohn e eriadria si

eerichterstatterregiemngaa9ar

y t l1aniaggn t

1

1 einbineln aktenheftakterhe2 3

nach seitesaitosaite 6 v und 7 des anlieaenanllesenden akcnheftesaki sindenheftes ktlrzllchkurzlichkurilichkUrz 107lichilch mit

in utah von ameathe

rika nach deutschiamdeutschland gekommen usurnurmumm hierin

alslehreralalehreralsalamlsmiselseis unterLehrer leinungleitung einessines parsiprrsipresidenprksidenden-

ten und mehrerermeh unterprssidentonunterprrsidentenrerer das

1 ai7fk

i

L L f t

yl fvY ya t

zwalwfti mittliedermitgliedertglieder dieser sektesektabekta der

j j LA y lionarsionar amtcmtrnqqt peter henrichsenhenrlchsenhenrichsentHenrich habensengsent

lt ach in t11sitmalt niedergelassenniedersnieder sindgelassenelassent aberabey

y Jy1 1

4u v T auf melneneinenelnsmeene veranlatsungveranlaasung auaa43 preusserpreusaenpreussenPreuPr aus&usmussaeneussen

gewesentgewieaenGewegewie weliwellweilsenaensentsens betbelbei der groshengrosaengros einungreigungeigungeian

gung

r newnenJ

1 D b 491

a

Zviel erleriaimhinbin

E r I1 a jj1

undJk t

66 4r

er bel 3ftlzten

t e th e I1 I1 en

f4 tglieder

r

I r1

11111 111

Trrf

pre didendicendigen

y A

prasisidentsdentssilents

lder

Ame

Deutschiam

Evanselium

en

iss ionar

el assent

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puld

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aze

rii

regle

ins

ra

ea

torf

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fa

88.

4.4 ah1ho0A 7

gewgennfstiatijaja

lltthauischeriitthauischer bestrebungenpbestrebungen welche b

leiderlelder hierhienhlen

akiwaaliwa

ayikyi

208

x LV vfs tAyavr zur sektenblldung die leiderhleranv y it ifljtf tft f ter der litthaulschenlitthauischen bavolkerungbevblkerung

herrachtt die befarchtungbefurchtung bestehtbestehtobestedtbe dasdagsteht1

da 3

durch diedle

r 7 4 r

A uf l thersat d

lehren dieser ssionarelliaslonare dpU klchlldie bodenbodon noch mehr aufgewuhltaufgewahit

JL sr C f und untergrabenunter wirdgraben biaalabis a a jetztletzt eftisftit f

der fall71st1 b6ldem leldht aufregbarenaufrecbarenaufrec chchambaren

y 3LJ jy ter der litthauerlitthausi wirhtwirkt dies erfahruniierfahrmau

missig au fffT f f

5 y ssalg aut ihre poilpollpoli2015 ti scheache und nationatlo ul

ALAA halAL tungAA unsfinstig

wy i fyi ihaltungunsanetig zuruckburuck und verleltetverlettatverietverletverleiA siesis

tsttats r verfolgungrfolgung ungesunderuneeaunder nationalnationallnali

SM

CCC 9 y I1 8 zur

v be

kfifftlichitsntftllch geradeserade von amerika aus durch

den sogenannten bund der litthauerlitthauerun

tersttltztterstutzt werdenewerden

wenn daher wie mir der consular

agent der vrelnigtenvereinigten slaatenstaaten von AMacter

ka in kanigsbergkbnigsbergk6nigsbergq welcher gegen diodiedlo ai

weisungwelsungwelsing bereltsbereltaberects protestirtprotoatirtprote hathatthatsstirt nitmit

theilttheiltotheila auch anderwirtsanderwsrtsander zumzamcaneanzwIrts belBeAbeibetbeispielbeaspielam spiel

in konigsbergkonigbergnigberg und berlin die missionarymissionaremissionartMissioMIssi

der

onartnarenart

mormonengemeindemonnongngfmelnde den dimsieitl9cdiftflieltlgc1

startenstorten trotz der vorschriftVor desschrift i71

des rlchsstrafgesetzbuchesreichsstrafgasetzbuches gedulietgedu31ct

werden olltensolltenalltenbolltenollsoll soten scheidtocheintscheint mir dachdcch geigel

nuenderntlzenderguendernU drandcrandender vorzullegenvomuliegen dieselbendiedle

wenivtanswenlg3tcn9

selben

aus dem hiesigerhieslgenhiesigenhieslhieshiest reglenirfi5regielurbengenibenigen

4

93

ivv

sek tenciltenbil dunglump R

t er aerger

M d4

or

JA kiichliki6chli che

te rab en wi rd alsesbises

politische

11an

un

dieni

ko

fall- i steIs

beebet demdam I1 ei ch t

n tsy A tja c

A vi t

tische

ungesunder

ni

hrc

dle

hai

zum

oii

af

ssang

theriat

liegenliegentfiegen ististnichtnicht anzunehmenanzunehnen vielmehrviellieghllegtliegt

mehr

der verdachtVerd deracht veruuun zur

au nwanswan derange sgtirnahejchach bitte die auswelsungausweisung eventuelleven

nach

tuellnehmenbenehtnenbenehmenBe mit dem herm minister der

seistllchengeistlichengeist angellichen egrenhoiesenholegre tennheinhoi aufrecht zu

erhaltnt V

regiemngsbezirksregierantsbezirks

I1

zubzugeb rl I1

sionablona

verleiveriel tuadsoaAbol Wom

auswanderung sn nahee

J ch bi tte

missionarymissionare zur mormonengemorroonengeMormon

1 melndemeindeleinde

enge

unutnwundenunumwandenunum zugiebtpzuglebtywanden erwidertyeividertv

gumbinnengumbinner ihrenahren au renfen thaithal t nehmensnshroennehmeneI1

erhalechal teneteno

i fS Y yii1

t 1 B jchhabe deshalbdeshalo dem consularagen

ten welcher ubrigensubrlgensUbri diegensbens zugehsrlgkeitkl

der beldenbeiden

dass laiidilal die scheidungentscheidungEnt euererbuerer excel

lenz eingeholt6ingeholt und inzwischen nichtslichtseinzuwendeneimuivendin huttes wenn die beidenbaidenbelden mis

j

sionare bis dahin in einemeinenelnen orteorieorisorts des jninlandes au3serhalb des

dass ubrigensUbri diegens zweckeowecke diesermissionlediglich aufaus religiosem gebiete

209

mvv

A

ez i A e fernfer zu haltenn

J ch hab a

0 kei tbeidenxissionare

i ch

re dah iablnbl

aufenthalt

mi ssionassion I1 ediglichigliched au f beligioreligio sem

qwmpaw v abolwom

bebezirkezirke

Missionare

Gumbinnen

kel

sen

rtenarten

aa1a

210

APPENDIX D

1902 prussian expulsion decree

Es hat sich herausgestellt dab der runderlabRunder vomvoinlaB 26april 1853 3381 AI nach welchen gegen die abgesandten dermormonenMor welchemonen ihre lehren und schriftenSchriftschriffen hier zu verbreitenverbestrebtbestre

breitensind mit ausweisung vorzugehen ist nicht mehr berfibertiber

all beachtetbeachtelbeach wirdtet aniablichAnIa derblichbilch propaganda welche seit etwaedwajahresfrist erneuternaut von abgesandten der mormonenMor betriebenbetmonenwird

riebenmache ich hiermit wiederholt auf diesen auch den regi

erungsprasidenten in dem neueren landestheilenLandes durchtheilen eriaberlabellab vom30 april vjsdjs mitgeteilten erias aufmerksam

wenngleichWenn dasgleich jetzigen auftreten der abgesandten dermormonenMor stellenweisestellenwelsemonen nicht mehr direktdirect zu klagenblagen veranlassunggegebengereben hat so lieftkieft doch schon mit rucksichtriicksichtRUck aufsicht die bestrebungenbangen der mormonenMor einmonen ausreichenden aniabanlabanlap zur aufhebungAuf deshebungrunderlassesRunder vomlasses 26 april 1853 nicht vor umurnurmumm jedochbedoch berubertriebenentrie hartenbenen zu vermeidenveriverl willneidennelden ich nicht dagegendagelen einwenbinwenden wenn solchenbolchen abgesandten der mormonenMor ausmonen amerika welchesich bereitsberects seit langerenlanderenlanian jahrengeren in inlandeinfande niedergelassenniederund

gelasseneinwandfrei gesucht haben bei fortgesetzten wohlerhaltenWohler

auchhalten

fernerhinferne derrhin aufenthalt in preubischenpreu staatsgebietBischennicht verwehrtver wirdwehrt soferngofern sie sich jeglicherglicherje propaganpropaganddischenbischen tatigkeittigkeit enthaltenent eureraurerhalten hochwohlgeboren berlasseiiberlasseberich

lassehiernochhier dasnoch weitereweitersWeitere

18533381U

Uha

gesucht

tatigkeitkelt U

enbt

211

APPENDIX E

newspaper clipping reporting mission president hugh cannonsopinion of the impact of the prussian expulsion order

deseret news friday april 7 1905

work in germany is progressingorder of banishment fails to bring about the results expected

missionaries are encouraged

their conduct closely scrutinized by secret service menlast years baptisms

the german mission despite banishmentsbanish isments not one whitbehind other european missions is the the encouraging wordbrought back by elder hugh J cannon who returned severaldays ago from presiding over the work in that country itwill be remembered that a little over three years ago theedict went orthforth that mormonism was to be no longer toler-ated in prussia especially steps were taken to banish theelders from that neighborhood in some cases the missionarieswere thrown into jail for no cause whatever and they were sohounded by the officers that it was finally decided to quitthe empire and leave the work to local elders this was doneand with what assistance the utah missionaries could givesome times at long distances the work continued as thoughnothing had occurred to mar its progress

when the order of banishment was first issued presidentcannon had a conference with andrew D white the americanambassador who kindly proffered to do all he could to havethe order annulled mr white laid the matter before thegovernment and after awhile the answer came back that germanydid not deem the promulgation of the doctrines not excludingpolygamy compatible with good order and morality it will benoted that no charge of preaching polygamy was made againstthem but simply that the government could not tolerate thepreaching of principles not excluding itfailing in the efforts to have the banishment cancelledthe elders were sent into other parts of the country and indue season mission headquarters were changed from berlingermany to zurich switzerland while the mormon questionwas under consideration it was learned later that secretservice men had been following the missionaries in theirtravels closely observing their conduct in order if pos-sible to prefer charges against them and have them throwninto jail but despite their efforts no fault could be foundwith them so that all that could be done was to have thembanished on general principles there were some few placeswhere the order was not effective but in these the elders

f

212

were cautioned against praying singing hymns and instead hadto read the hymns and pray in secret

in spite of the difficulties referred to the work hascontinued in good condition and last year 340 baptisms wereperformed in that country A year ago the german mission wasannexed to the swiss mission and the work in both countries isnow under one head the president being elder serge F ballifof logan utah there are now about 130 elders in that mis-sion and all are much encouraged with the success attendingtheir humble efforts most of them are young men just out ofschool and as they are generally studious they acquire thelanguage in a comparatively short time being able to speak itquite well within a year the american ambassadorcharlemagne tower is a genial gentleman and he affords theelders all the protection possible in his official capacity

elder cannon left home july 8 1901 and returned march30 1905 he had an interesting experience while away andcomes home in splendid health ready to assume his new dutiesas president of the liberty stake of zion before leaving forhome he made a tour of the alps and passed over the greatsimplonsimolon tunnel which is considered to be the largest in theworld and a most wonderful piece of engineering

C

ndnisandnisandnis

ndungdungneung

anhaachageschudeschutzt

ssenasen

repradepra

zuruburu0 ckzugehen

anhaachazuruburu0 ckgewlesen

213

APPENDIX F

consul bopps analysis and recommendations regardingthe mormons in germany

kaiserlichkalserlichKaiKal deutscheserlich botschaftbotschartBot 3schaft juni 1909nr 882auf eriaberlabellab 78 vom 3 febr djs 1111 781

was die frage der ausweisung von mormonenmissionare auspreubenrreuben anbetrifft so vermagverlag ich mich nur den ausgezeichneten ausfuhrungausfiihrung des kaiserlichKai konsulskonsulisserlich bopp in san franciscoanzuschlieben meines erachtens solite leute die berufsmabigfairfiir die auswanderung propaganda machen denn dies ist doch derpraktischeprak zwecktische der mormonenmissionare wenn die moglichkeitglichkeitMoglichvorliegt

keitkeltberhauptiiberhauptiiU von den grenzen des reichs ferngehalten

werden Es solltemollte dies umurnurmumm so unnachsichtliche geschehenge wennschehensolchegolche individuen zu gleicher zeit sich berufenberumen fuhlenbuhlen einenglauben zu predigenpredigerpre derdigen eine auberordentliche borniertheitseiner anhangerhangeronhangerAn zur voraussetzung hat und vor dem dahergerade die ungebildeten elemente des volkes geschiitzt werdenmussen hieranheeran diirfte der umstandupstand nichtslichts ndernandernadern dab in denvereinigten staatenslaaten diedle republikanischen partel ihrenahren mormonischen senatorenSena reprasentantentoren und wahler wegen zur zeitveranlabung nimmtnimat sich fairfiir die heiligenheiligerHei derligen letztenletzter tageunzucht zu werfengerfen

gez bernstorffan seiner durchlautdurchlaubDurch denlaut herrn reichskanzlerReichs fiirstkanzler von billow

kaiserlichKai deutschesdeutschelDeutscserlich konsulatsanhes francisco den 8aprildapril 1909

fur das verstandnisverstaVerst die die vielweiberei im mormonentumhat ist es erforderlicherford auferlich die enstehungEnste undhung entwicklungEntwick derlungkirche zuriickzugehen

die grundunggrundinggruGrun der mormonenkirche erfolgte am 6april1830zu fayette in staateskaate new york Es mag dabel daraufderauf hingewiesen werden dab ihre anhangerhangeronhangerAn von jeherbeher die bezeichnung

mormonenMor zuriickgewiesenmonen haben die offizielle bezeichnungist the church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday diegrundlageGrund deslage glaubensaubensGl bildetbildat the book of mormon dasselbedasselledasenthaltenthaentholt

selbedie aufzeichnungen auf den dem vater und ersten pro

phetenphelen der kirche joseph smith jr im jahre 1827 von einemengel anvertrautenanver goldenetrauten plattenflatten befandenbefan undden von ihm mithilfegilfe von zweigwei gleichzeitig empfangenen steinen urimarim undthumminThum durchmin die er hindurchblickte entziffertentz wurdeniffertleider hat sich der engel diedle plattenflatten nach vollendungVollen derdungentzifferung und ubersetzungbersetzung wieder abgeholt so dab derbeweisbereis ihrer existensexistentExi undstens ihreschres inhaltsinhales beim besten willen vonder kirche nicht mehr geliefertge werdenliefert kann neben dem book

berufsmasigfur

MO

nger

mu duO0 rfteefte a

sentanten wahlerfur

FUrst BU low

FUr

nger

lt

doleUbersetzung

berufsma

sentanten

big

hier

tat

ngernangern

ngernangern

iselse

einerelner

erwaervahlt

seinesselnes

zuruburu

rfteefte

bezubeauglicheneglichenoffoffenbarungenbarung zu seinen lebzeiten nicht mehr statt smith

scheintscheidt sie nur im familiencamilien und engerenengelen bekanntkreisebekanntkre mitgeteilt zu haben bereitsberects am 27julil84427juli1844 wurden er und seinjungerenjiingerenjunggrenjunjiin brudergeren hyrum ermordeterm erstordet sein nachfolger brighamyoung hat die offenbarung und zwar als eine smithscheSmith amsche 28august 1852 publiziert dh zu einer zeit wo die mormonenMorschon

monenlangst unter sich in utah lebtenleaten und brigham young

selbst bereit 20 frauen hatte die offenbarungenbarung andfand alssektionseation 132 in das offizielle das dogma enthaltende lehrbuchlehrbachLehrder

buchkirche doctrine and covenants aufnahme sie gestattete

nicht etwaedwa nur die vielweiberei sondern machteaachte sie mit hochstgewundenen schwiilstigen und schwer verstandlichen begriindunggeradezugeradeaugera zudezu einer pflichtpolicht und vorbedingung der vollen seeligkeit

die frage der vielweiberei war einer der grunde die zueinerelner spaltungSpal dertung kirche fuhrtenhrtenfuhrkenfuhrarten nachten smithssmithsnith tod ubernahmbernahmbernaheuberberder

nahmnahndamalsdamalas an der spitze der 12 apostel stand die leitungleinung der

kirche ende 1847 wurdeburde er formell zum nachfolger smiths dhzum prasidentensidentenPrasi prophetenpropheterProphedenten undten offenbarungsempfanger derkirche erwahlt young stieb von anfang an auf opposition beidem anhangernanhaAnhacha der familiecamilie joseph smith die die ansicht vertraten dab die nachfolgenachfolgerNach demfolge altestentestenal sohn smiths zufalienzufallenfallenfailenzufazumussemlissenusse

lienllensobaldgobald er das notigenorige alter erreichtreichter habe beim tode

seinesselnes vaters war er erst 12 jahre alt als im jahre 1846 derexodus der mormonenMor untermonen der leitungleinung von brigham young nachdem westen begannbegane bliebblied die joseph smithschesmithischeSmitSmith familiecamiliesche mitihrenahren anhangernanhaAnhacha in illinois zurizurlickickcklck im jahre 1852 sagtensaghen sievollstandigvoll vonstandig der alten kirche los und konstitutierten sichals reorganized church of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday

nachfnachaolger

aa1angstangst

chstcastschwuschaulstigentigenlitigenls ndungneung

hitalt anfadfang

hitealte

214

of mormon wird die bibel soweit11soweitsobeit sie richtig bersetztiibersetzt istals wort gottes anerkannt

die vielweiberei ist nicht von anfang an eine mormonischemormoinstitution

nischegewesengewekenge siewesen ist namentlichnam nichtentlich etwaedwa auf das

book of mormon ckzufuhrenzurtickzufuhren sondern ist erst spater durcheine der angeblichen offenbarungen eingesetzt worden dieden prophetenpropheterProphe derten kirche zutell werden und mitmilnilnit dem book ofmormon gleichegleichen kraft haben die mormonenMor scheinenmonen von anfangan einen lockerenlockevenloc lebenswandelLebenskeren gefuhrtgefiihrtwandel und vielweibereigetriebenget habenrieben dies war einer der griinkegriindegruffideGrigrummGrUff dieindeide ihnen den habihrer nicht mormonischen nachbarnNach zuzogzuzokbarn und dazucazu fiihrteartefiihr dabtesie lange zeit ruhelosbuhelos von einem ort zum andern ziehensiehen mubtenmuntenEs diirfte kein zweifel dariiberdarudaridart bestehenstehenbeiberber dab smith der selbstin polygamiepolygamiaPoly lebteleategamie zur aushiifeaushilfe einer die vielweiberei einsetzendensetz offenbarungenbarungenden griffgrif umurnurmumm dadurch seinen und gleichgesinnten lockerenlockevenloc lebenswandelLebenskeren vorwandel den nichtmormonen andersgesinnten glaubensgenossen und namentlichnam auchentlich vor seinen frauzu rechtfertigenrechtfertig immerhinImme fandrhin eine offizielle bekanntmachung der ihm am 12julil84312juli1843 zutell gewordenen beziiglichen

die im jahre 1860 den altestentestenal sohn der ersten prasidentensidentenPrasijoseph

dentensmith zum prasidentensidentenPrasi erwahltedenten welcher heute noch an

der spitze dieser kirche steht und ihrenahren sitz in lamoni iowahat die alte durch brigham young weitergefuhrteweitergefu kirche hat

j

Ubersetzt

spater

fuhrtedu

of f f

off faufnahmenahne

hoversta

fUhr s U

pra offenbarungsempf anger

notige

altesten prapra erwahlte

hrte

en

ndndlichenlichen begruberru

si

hische

sisi

arte

O0ffoffentlichenentlichenentlicherent mternamternalternmaternlicheneinschlieblicheinschlie8lich

Adem geschworenendienst ausgeschlossen wurdeburde

und die mormonenMor sichmonen davon berzeugtenuberzeugten dab solange sie aufder vielweiberei bestandenstandenbe sie niemalsniemala die anerkennung alsstaat eriangenerlangenlangenerlangererierler undangen damit die lastigenstigenla bevormundung durchwashington los werden wurden gabenaaben sie nach am 25 septem-ber 1890 eriieberlieberlien ihrahr damaligerdama prasidentprisidentPrasiliger woodruffdent seine gegendie vielweiberei gerichtetegerich proklamationproclamationtete vier jahre spaterwurdeburde dann vom bund durch die sogenannte enabling act utah dieaufnahmeAuf imnahme staat in aussichtAus gestelltgessicht fallstellt es abgesehen vongewissengelissenge anwissen anderen kauteinkautelnkaptein in seine verfassung die nur mitzustimmung des bundesabundes abzuandernde bestimmung aufnehmeauf dassnehmemehrehenMehr furehen immer verboten sein sollen nachdemnachiem utah diesemerfordernisErford nachgekommenernis wurdeburde es anfang 1896 formlichf6rmlichforelichform alslichilchstaat in die union aufgenommen

die frage der vielweiberei ist aber damit auch fairfiir dieutahscheUtah kirchesche nicht aus der welt geschafftge zunachstzundchstschafft wirdvon den mormonenMor selbstmonen offen zugestandenzuge dabstanden die vor demgeschlossenen mehrehenMehr fastehen allgemeinall fortgesetztgemein werden mit

militanilitarische

bezubeau

erklaarkla

anhaacha

entrubentru

rferarfer

ndenaden

rdenadensidentaident

abzuaabzug

215

ihrenahren sitz in salt lake city utah an ihrer spitze stehtzzt ebenfallseben josephfalls F smith der altesteltesteletestelt sohneste von hyrumsmith dem bruder des ersten prophetenpropheterProphe dieten reorganisiertekirche hat von anfang an die vielweiberei verurteilt und bekampftkampet sie bestreitet sogar dab joseph smith jr die bezugliche offenbarung erhaltenhaltener ja sogar dab der selbst polygamiepolygamiaPolybetreibenbet

gamiehabereiben und erklarterkhart das dogma fur irrlehreIrr abgesehenlehre

von der frage der fuhrerschaftohrerschaftFuhrer undschaft der vielweiberei scheinendie beiden kirchen zwischenischenzwischerzw denen keinerleikein zusammenhangerleibestehtbestedtbe diesteht sich vielmehrviel eifrigmehr bekampfenkampfenbe in lehren undorganisationorganization bereinstimmeniibereinstimmen

die hangeranhangeronhangerAn brigham youngs hatten sich auf ihrerwanderungwanderingWan nachderung dem westen schlieblichlieBlichsch am salt lake festgesetztletzt hier hatten sie was sie suchtennuchtensuch inten einer noch ganzlich unbewohnte wusteneisteneiwusteneystenci waren sie ganz unter sich und siewaren der hoheit der vereinigten staatenslaaten entriickt denn diegegendgegena gehortegeharte danaisdanals noch zu mexikomehiko in letztererletz beziehungBezieterereriebtenerlebten

hungsie allerdings bald einecine enttauschungenttaeitta denn schon

1848 wurdeburde utah ein teiltoiltolltolitellteli der vereinigten staatenslaatenSta deraten 1850nicht als staat sondern als ein im wesentlichen von derzentralcentral regierung in washington verwaltetes territoriumTerrit konoriumstituiert vurde die utahscheUtah mormonenMorsche hieltenmonen mit grobtergroblerhartnackigkeit an der vielweiberei fest dies sowle ihrahrreligioserreligibserreligionerrelirell fanatismusgibser ihre intoleranzintolerant und der despotismusDespotihrer

ismuskirche auch auf nichtreligiosemnichtreligio gebietgebien brachtenachtentrachtenbr sie bald

in konflikt mit dem nichtmormonen die sich dort nach ihnenangesiedelten und mit der zentralcentral regierung es ging soweitsobeitdab im jahre 1857 eine formlichermlicheformforn militarischeliche expedition gegenutah ausgerichtet werden musstemussle bald daraufderauf begannenbecannenbeg dieannenersten gesetzgeberischen mabregeinmabregelnMaBre desgeIngeln bundesparlements gegendie vielweiberei dieselbendie bliebenbliedenselben jedochbedoch toter buchstabebuchstaneBuch dastabesich in utah keine jurys fandenaanden welche die schuldigenSchulbestraftenbest

digenerstraften als die US immer scharfer vorgingenvor alsgingen

die mormonenMor entrechtetmonen insbesondere von

C

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bekampfenUnger

ganzWU

cktgehorte

grobterabterhartnaharanackigkeit

sem

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praspater

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furoffen

ususchungchungmuschung

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verpfverpy lichtetlichtel

ssenasen

unguangunstigennestigennstigeastige

bezubeaunglicheglich vorgaborga

aa1angereangere

aa1abt

chstcast

216

dieser tatsacheTat habensache sich auch die nicht mormonischen nachbarn abgefunden in der tat ist dies zu entschuldigen durchmehrere bundesgesetze sind die aus den fruherfriiherfluher eingegangenenmehrehenMehr hervorgegangenenehen kinder fairfiir legitim erklaerklarterkhartarkla wordenwo aber der vater verpflichtet ist fairfiir sie zu sorgen und siezumeist in seiner hauslichenuslichenhaus gemeinschaftgemeinschafGemeinlichen behaltenhaltenbehalterbeschafschaft wird wurdeburdees einecine grobe harte sein die mutter welche jene polygamischepolygamehen

ischein guten glauben eingegangen sind aus dieser gemein

schaft auszustobeneine andere frage ist es ob nach dem woodruffschenwoodrufWoodruff

manifestf

respschen

dem jahre 1896 noch von der kirche pluralehenPluragetrautgertraut

lehenworden sind dies wird von den utahschenUtah mormonenMorschen mitmonen

ebensoebenson grober bestimmtheit verneintverne wieint es von ihrenahren gegnernbehauptet wird der bevels ist schwer zu flihren da wennsolchegolche trauungen stattgefunden haben solltenbollten dies jedenfallsganz im geheimenheimenGe hatten geschehenge miissenissenmaissenmumischehen die frage wurdeburde voreinigeneiniger jahren akutabut als es sich umurnurmumm ausstob des mormonenMor smootmonenaus dem bundessenat handeltehan danaisdanalsdelte berichteteberich dietete majoritatmajoritaftMajorider

tattaftsenatskommission on privileges and elections in einem

smoot ungiinstigen sinne sie nahm ua als erwiesenwiesener an dabdie utahkircheUtah fortgesetztkirche noch die polygamiepolygamiaPoly begiinstigegamie undbeantragte ausschliebung des smoot das plenum lehnteleante die ausschliebungschlie8ungschlieschile jedochbedochBung ab wie ich vermiitenvermuftenvernivermi monochteiten weil smootselbst wie erwiesenwiesener ist nicht vielweiberei trieb und imgegenteilGegen alsteil apostel der kirche entschiedene stellungstellingStel gegenlungdie vielweiberei genommengen hatommen ubrigensUbri wargens mir das bezingbeziigliche senatsmaterial hier nicht zuganglich an die vorgangeVorim

gangesenat schlobschlab sich eine langere prebfehdePreB anfehde in derselbender

stelltestellaeselben

der hauptgegnerHaupt smootsgegner bundessenator burros diebehauptung auf das erwiesenwiesener worden sei dab verschiedenebeamtebeamie der kirche und privatpersonenPrivat nochpersonen nach 18901900 sogarnach 1896 polygamischepolygam eheische eingenommeneingen selenommen wobel die kirchemitgewirkt habe in seiner entgegnung bestreitet smoot diesethesebehauptung nur soweitsobeit die hohen geistlichenGeist inlichen betrachttrachtBe kommen und labtlaba sie im ubrigeniibrigen unerwidertuner obwidert die fortgesetztepraxis kirchlicherkirch trauunglicher von pluralehenPlura inlehen gegendengendengemendenGe wo dieobrigkeit kontrolleKon einetrolle laxerelabere ist etwaedwa in territorienterritorianTerrit mitorienorlengroberergr sicherheitSicheroBerer nachzuwiesenheit ist als im staat utah entziehtzicht sich meiner beurteilung vielleichtviel wurdeburdeleicht es in derbeziehungBezie vonhung besonderembesonder interesseteresseinteresseeIn sein die verhaltnisse inden mexicanischenmexican staatenslaatenischen chihuahua und sonora nachzuforschenwo sich bedeutende mormonen kolonien befindenfindenbe und die kirchesich fraglosfraggos freier und ungenierter bewegen kann als in denUS

mag man nun auch mit bezug auf die praxis zu einem nonliquet gelangenlangengelangerge so steht es doch mit dem dogma der vielweivielweibberei me anders da ist zunachst zu beachtenachtenbeachtelbe dabdas die woodruffsche proklamationproclamation nicht etwaedwa die folge einer anderungderungAn deruberzeugung war sondern lediglichled unteriglich dem druck von aubenerfolgte woodruff selbst sagtesaete darin dab nachdemnachiem der hochste gerichtshof der US sich gegen das institutinstitute ausgesprochen er sich fiigen submit wolle demgemabdemgemaDemge erfolgtemaB die

fUr rtfUr

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hattenaten

begu

chte

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zunaruff I1 sche A

hoch

fugen B

em

usater

achte

einelnschra

erklaarklaerklaarkla

beflubeflumchtungcheung begruberrundeteneete

zustaausta

gespragestra

erklaarkla

rztarzt

ausfauffUhrlich

zuruburuerklaarkla

anderglaanderllardenaden konfconf liktliet

217

erklsrung gegen die polygamiepolygamiaPoly denngamie auch nicht in derselbenderform

selbenals in der das institutinstitute eingesetzt worden ist dh

durch gottlichegottlichergott offenbarungliche woodruff erklsrte auch dievielweiberei nicht etwaedwa fairfiir stinde er verbietetverbie sietet nichteinmaleirmal direktdirect sondern erteilt seines glaubensgenossen nur denguten rat sich in zukunft der vielweiberei zu enthaltenent myhaltenadvice to the latterdaylatter saintsday is to refrain from contractingany marriage forbidden by the law of the land das dogmaalso bliebblied nur seine praktischeprak ausflbungtische vurde suspendiertso ist es auch zu verstehenverstegenver dabstehen als im jahre 1901 die legislaturbatur von utah ein die verfolgung des ehebruchesEhe einschraneinschrabrucheskendesbendes gesetz annahm und der damaligemaligeda gouverneur wells dasselbe vettierte er das mit der befliichtung begriindete dabdie inkraftsetzung eines solchenbolchen gesetzesGesetz einecine gegen gewissegerissegezustandestandeZu

wissehier certain conditions here gerichtetegerich amendtete

ierungderung der bundesverfassung zu folge haben wiirrewiirde damit dannnur die mormonischemormo auffassungnische von der ehe gemeint sein ichselbst legtefegte in einem gesprachsprachGe mitmil dem hochstenchstenhochsteincastenhoch geistlichenGeiststender

lichenreorganisierten kirche fur das nordlicherdlichenordlichtnord kalifornienliche dem

selben die frage vor ob denn nicht mitmilnilnit der woodruffschewoodruff1scheWoodruffproklamationproclamation

schejederaeder dogmatischedogma unterschiedUntertische zwischenischenzwischerzwschied der

fuhrerschaftFuhrer gebliebengebschaft seilieben der genannte erklarteerk daraufderauflarte mitgrober bestimmtheit dab nach wie vor die frage der vielweiberel die beiden kirchen trenne denn die utahscheUtah kirchesche habedas dogma der vielweiberei auf jedenaeden fall beibehaltenbeibe zumhaltenbevels legtefegte er mir die ausgabe des oben erwahnten offizielleniziellenlehrbuchsLehr derbuchs utahscheUtah kirchesche doctrine and covenants vomjahre 1901 vor darin befindet sich nach wie vor die obenerwahnten offenbarung berliberulber die vielweiberei unverkuunverkurzt undohne jedenaeden vorbehaltVorbe wahrendbahrendhalt das entsprechende lehrbuchlehrbachLehr derbuchreorganisierte kirche eine entschiedene verurteilung der vielweibereiwei inberei unzweideutigen worten enthaltenthaentholtent dabhalthait auch dieutahscheUtah scheische kirche trotzdemtrotz diedem polygamiepolygamiaPoly nichtgamie mehr offenpredigten ist bei der lage der verhaltnisse nur naturlichturlichnasteht aber dem fortbestand des dogmas nicht entgegenent

ichgegen

habe geglaubt auf die geschichte des institutsinstitutes dermormonischenmormon vielweibereiischen so ausfiihrlich eingehenein zugehen sollenwellweilweli sie me fairfiir die beurteilung des mormonentums in kaliforkalifcalifornien und der mormonenmission in deutschland notwendignot istwendig

in ersterersterereistererer beziehungBezie washung mir das urteilurceil des prasidentensidentenPrasides

dentenhochstenh6chstenhochsteinhoch kalifornischensten gerichtshof chief justice of the

supreme court dessen erfahrungenahrungen bis die goer jahre zureickzuriickreichen von besonderembesonder interesseteresseinteresseeIn derselbeder erklareselbe mir dasdie mormonenMor inmonen kalifornien niemalsniemala mit der anderglaubigenbevolkerungbevokkerung und den behordenhordenbenordenBe in konflikt geratenberaten selen weilsie eben niemalsniemala vielweiberei gepredigt oder getriebenget hattenriebendie geschichte des mormonentums in kalifornien wie ich sieinsbesondere auch durch umfragenfragenUm in mormonenkreisen selbstermitteltermit habetelt gibtgiat dafudafiirdabu die aufklarung

als die mormonenMor immonen jahre 1846 den exodus von illinoisnach dem westen antratentratenan schlugenschlugersch dielugen meisten den landweglandweiunter der fiihrungdrungFiihr vonung brigham young ein ein kleiner teil

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218

wahltewaehlte den seewegseewig auf dem schiffescheffe brooklyn Es scheintscheintlheintlscheindtschescdabdas

intdas allgemeine nicht ausgesprochene ziel kalifornien war

welches den mormonenMor seinermonen klimatischenklimatis vorziigechen wegen undwellweilweli es zu mexikomehiko gehortegehartege besonderssondersbehorte verlockendverlock erschienschienerschoenerend alsjene kleinerekleinekekle abteilunginere im herbst in kalifornien landetelandetalaneriebtenerlebten

detesie die enttauschung das inzwischen kalifornien in

den besitzbeditz der vereinigten staatenslaaten ubergangen war sie siedelten sich gleichwohlgleich anwohl schicktenschinktenschick jedochbedochten kunde den auf demlandweglandwei gefindlichen glaubensgenossen entgegenent diegegen sich nunbewogen fandenaanden in utah zu bleibeneibenbleidenbl welches damalsdamalas noch mexicanischbanisch war die damalsdamalas in kalifornien verbleibenden mormonenMorhatten

monenden westen zu einer zeit verlassenver alslassen das dogma der

vielweiberei noch nicht verkiindet war sie sollen auch spateres nicht angenommenangen jedenfallsommen nicht danachbanach gelebtgelest habenbereitsberects 1856 oder 1857 wurden sie alle nach utah beordert diemeisten folgtenolgtenolsten dem ruferuf wenige bliebenblieden zureickzuriick und zersteutenzerssich

teutenbald von einem kalifornischem mormonentum war nicht mehr

die redebereitsberects 1862 nahm die reorganisierte kirche die propa-

ganda in kalifornien auf und zwar mit gutemautem erfolg da ihrahrjahrzehnte lang von der utahscheutahischeUtaUtah kirchesche keine konkurrenzgemachtgedacht wurdeburde zahlreichezahlreicZahlzahi gemeindengemeinderGemereichereic wurdeburdeindenhe gegrundet gegenwartig wird die zahl der erwachsene mitgliedermittlieder der reorganreordanisierte kirche in kalifornien auf etva 2500 angegebenange furgeben sieist kalifornien in 3 distrikteDistri eingeteiltkte einen nordlichenrdlichennordeinen

lichenzentralenzent undralen einen dlichensiidlichen die respektiven ersten

gemeindengemeinderGeme residierenresiinden indieren oakland fresno und los angeles Esist bereitsberects oben erwahnt worden dab die reorganisierte kirchevon anfang an eine vielweiberei entschieden feindlichefeind stellichelung eingenommeneingen hatommen

erst wesentlichwes spaterentlich etwaedwa mitte der goer jahre setztesetzledie utahscheUtah kirchesche mitmil ihrer propaganda in kalifornien eindh mehrereinehrere jahre nach erias der woodruffscheWoodruff proklamationproclamationschegegen die vielweiberei Es ist begreiflich dab die kirchedamalsdamalas in einem seit jahrzehnten bestehendenbeste geordnetenhendenstaatswesenStaats wiewesen kalifornien mit ihrenahren polygamischenpolygam gelustengeluGelgeiischennicht mehr hervorzutreten wagen konntekonate sie hat es bisher inkalifornien nur auf eine mitgliedschaft von einigeneiniger hundertgebrachtdebrachtge offenbaroffenbracht weilbar ihrer propaganda der boden durch diein kalifornien wesentlichwes altereltereentlich reorganisierte kirche entzoentzigen worden war

so erklarterklaerkhartarkla es sich dab die frage der vielweiberei inkalifornien niemalsniemala aktuell gewordengelordenge istworden

was nun speziellspe dieziell mormonenmissionmormoneninission betrifft so wirdsolchegolche sowohlkowohl in den vereinigten staatenslaaten wie auch in europaspeziellspe inziell deutschlanddeutschlandeDeutsch vonland beiden zweigen der kirchebetriebenbet inrieben deutschland anscheinendanschein von der utahschenUtahkirche

schenlebhafterleb alshafter von der reorganisierten der hiesigehiesiger

erste geistlicheGeist derliche letzterenletz meinteteren dab seine kirche indeutschland nur einen missionarmissionalMiss namensnaroensdamensionar jungk einen naturalinaturalssiertengierten amerikaner von deutscher herkunft habe er erwahntedab derselbeder sichselbe beklagenbek habelagen wie schwierigschwieringsch eswierig sei neue

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tratuswssw tragtdragt auf der stirn den stempel plumper erf indung wie sie sich nur ein verschmitzter bauernjungeBauern ausdenkenjungekonntekonate um seine ungebildeten nachbarnNach zubarn betorenbetorin und dieherrschaft berilbertiber sie zu gewinnengewinnerge daswinnen book of mormon ist dasdenkbardeckbar flachsteflach machwerkMachste wiirdigwerk des stiftersstiffersStif derters religionjedes tieferenti gedankentumsGedankeneferen bartums ausgenommen da wo es diebibel zu kopierenpierenko sucht dabel ist die geschichte des mormonentums voll blutigerutigerblutingerbl schandtatenSchand ausgefuhrttaten auf geheibgeheeb derkirchlichenkirch obernlichen die umsoamso abstobender wirken als die alterelterejetztletzt lebendenbendenlebenderle generationenGeneration sich noch eriebterlebterlest hat und alsschnodeschmode habsuchtHab undsucht wollustwohlust dabel ebensoebenson im spiel gewesengewekensind als religiosen fanatismus ein vorgang wie das sogennantemountain meadows massacre bei dem einecine utah auf dem wege nachkalifornien passierendepassie harmloseharmrende auswandererkarawanelose von 120menschenhenschenMen mannerschen frauen und kinder diedle sich unter dem schutzder mormonenMor vormonen den indianernIndia begebenbegemennern hatten in verraterverraftervernaterischen weise auf das losungswort do your duty hin abgeaageschlandetschlandersch wurdenlandet sucht seinesgleichenseines ingleichen den schwarzestenschwarzschwaepisodenepisodesEpi dersoden religionsverfolgung des altertumsAlter undtums mittelalters aber selbst wenn daruberdaruben als berilbertiber bergehendevoriibergehendevoruboruverirrungen

bergehingewiesenhinge

hendewillwiesen so diirfte doch selbst der zu

weiterer toleranztolerantTole geneigteranz zugebengebenzugeberzu dab fairfiir diesethesetiese religionsform richtiger dieser kohlerglaubenhlerglaubenKohler keineglauben berechtigunggeschweigegesch denweige ein bediirfnis bestehtbestedtbe ichsteht personlichpersopersonerblickteerb eineslickte der hauptbedenken darin dab sich das mormon

rgenagenrdenaden erwaervahnte

ndigendigchtigcatig

rfteefte

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rfteefte

bedubadurfnisranis

219

religiosereligiobeligio ideen in deutschland einzubiirgen von schwierigschwieringkelten mit den behordenhordenbenordenBe erwahnte er nichtslichts ich neige daherzu der ansichtAn dabsicht es sich bei der ausweisung von mormonenmissionarenmissio ausnaren deutschland umurnummunn emissareemissaryEmis dersare utahscheUtah kircheschehandelt

aus den vorausgeschickten ausfuhrungenausfiihrungen gehtfeht hervor dabbei der sogenannten mormonen mission soweitsobeit es sich umurnurmumm diefrage der vielweiberei handelt unterschieden werden mubaub obdie mission von der utahschenUtah oderschen der reorganisierten kircheausgeht der reorganized church of jesus christ of latterdaylattersaints

dayletztereLetz haltetere ich von der beziehungBezie fairfiirhung vollstandigvollvoil

harmlosharilosharmstandig

ersterelos zum mindestenmildestenmin indesten hohembohem grade verdachtig wobelvobeldahin gestelltges bleibenbleidentellt mag ob man sich etva berilbertiber das formellbeibehaltene dogma der vielweiberei mitmil dem trost hinwegsetzten darf dab dassebledasselledas voraussichtlichseble auch in amerika niemalsniemalawieder in praxis umgesetzt werden kann

ob aber nicht auch sonst geniigendegenugeniigenilgentl griindegriinke vorliegen umurnurmumm

auslandischeauslaauslanausia mormonenmissionare solchegolche der utahschen wie diereorganisierten kirche von deutschen boden auszuschliebenwage ich nicht zu entscheidenscheidenent ich darf mir gestationge instatten derbeziehungBezie nurhung auf folgendesfol hinweisenhingendes

derweisen

mormonenglaube diirfte von alienallenailen jiingerenjujiin religionsngerengerenneerenformen diejenigendie seinjenigen die an den gesundedgesund menschenverstanddie grobtengrobben zumutungen stelltsteldt die ganze entstehungsgeschichteschichschachte wievie vor noch nicht 90 jahren die goldenengoldemengol tafeintafelntafeladenen mithilfegilfe eines engels aufgefunden wie die ratselhaftenraftselhaften schriftzeichendeichen mit hilfegilfe der steine urimarim und thummiinthummim entziffertentzwurden

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220

entumentuinenruinantum als eine beilaufigbeibel dielaufig einzig richtigerichtigerrich zurtige eroberungder ganzen welt bestimmte form des christentumsChristen ausgibttums diesnub man in ungebildeten kreisendreisen verwirrenverworren und dem gegeniiberkann man in einem land wie deutschland nicht gleichgiiltigbleibenbleidenbl woeiben man gewohnt ist in dem christemtum eine der saulesauieunsererunderer staatlichenstaat undlichen sozialensozia einrichtungenlen und unserkulturkultar zu erblickenblickener

diejenigenDie diejenigen fur das mormonentummonnonentum gewonnengew werdenonnengehen aber nicht blob den vernunftigeren formen des christentums verlorenvervorenver woriiberloren man sich wohl leicht trosten konntekonatesondern sie geben auch diejenigendie elementenclementenElejenigen diementen an der untergrabung des christentumsChristen berhauptiiUtums tatigbatigta sichtig neue waffwafen indie hand und fordernrdernbordernadern den kampf gegen eine religion in dersolch auswahleAus moglichglichalich sind Es komntkommtkomet hinzuhinau dab die mormonenkirchemonen denkirche denkbardeckbar grobtengrobben despotismusDespot uberilbertiberismus ihre mitglieder ausiibt und deren willenlosewillen unterwerfunglose nicht blos ingeistlichengeist sondernlichen auch in weltlichenwelt dingenlichen erwarteterwart wiedas mit unseren anschauungen nicht vereinbarvere istinbar daneben sieauch schonungslos finanziellfinan ausbeutetziell die zehntenzehnter zollennoch jetztletzt willig gezahitgezahlt werden bemerkenswert ist in derbeziehungBezie dabhung gelegentlich der smootschenSmoot untersuchungschen dererwahnte mehrheitsbeschlub des senatscommittees on privilegeand elections unter anderen auch als festgestellt annahm dasdie mormonenkirche entgegenent dergegen in utahschen staatsverfassunggegebenengege garantierantiegarantineGabenen auch die weltlichewelt herrschaftliche erstrebestrebeer unddab smoot nicht als vertreterVer destreter staatesskaates utah sondern dermormonenkirche anzusehen sei schlieblichlieBlichSch ist auch nicht zulibersehenbersehenberschenliberberilber dassehen von jeherbeher die mormonenpropaganda ausserhalb dervereinigten staatenslaaten gleichzeitig eine offeneoffenb oder versteckteauswanderungspropaganda gewesengeweken ist aus alienallenailen diesen grundenscheintscheidt mir eine mormonenpropaganda in deutschlanddeutschlandeDeutsch auchland abgeaagesehen von der frage der vielweiberei in hochstenchstenhochsteincastenhoch massestenunwillkommenunwillkoitmien Es mag sein dab unsereungere gesetze keine direktedirettehandhabeHand zurhabe ausrottung des gegenwartiggegenwagegengegenawa numerischnum0 nurerischrtigartigschwachenschwachersch mormonentumswachen in deutschland bietenbaeten aber wenn diemoglichkeitglichkeitMoglich gegebengerebenkeitkelt ist zu verhindernverhin dasdern ihmihn von aus land herneue nahrung zugefuhrtzuge wirdfuhrt so solite diesethesetiese moglichkeitglichkeitmoMoglich nachkeitkeltkraftenklaften ausgenutzt werden Es ist zu hoffen das sich selbstuberlassenberlassenuberber dieseslassen von amerika verpflantzte sumpfgewachse aufdeutschen boden schnell eingehenein wirdgehen

Es mag auf den ersten blick auffalligauf erscheinenscheinenerfallig dassich die washington regierungRegie furrung die amerikanischen mormonenmissionaremissionarymissio verwendenverlendenvernare diewenden erklarung dafiir das mormonentumwirklich erwarmtwarmtwarnter das man es noch heute bedauertbed nichtauert mitgrosserergros energieenergicserer dagegendagelen von anfang an vorgegangen zu seinund es im keim erstickt zu haben und dab man deutschlandgeradezugeradeaugera beneidetbendezu weileidet es dazucazu in der lage ist aber unddarin liegtliege der springendespring punktende imlin senat sind der regierungRegiedie

rungzweigwei utahscheUtah stimmenshimmensche ebensoebenson wertvollwert wievoll die zweigwei

stimmenshimmen irgendirgens eines anderen staats und wenn man in washingtonauch nicht gewillt sein wurdewiirdecurde dem mormontumsMormon auftumsamerikanischen boden die geringstegering konzessionste zu machen so

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umurnummunn diesen ausdruckAus zudruckgebrauchengeb derrauchen in der amerikanischen fremdenpolitik einesolchegolche rolle spielt und wir solltenbollten gegen diese undesireables mitmilnitnil der gleichen rucksichtslosigkeit vorgehenvor wiegehen dieamerikanischen regierungRegie gegenrung wesentlichwes harmloseharmentlich fremdefreddelose diesie von ihremitiremahrem standpunktStand auspunkt als undesireableundesire betrachtetable

gezeichnet bopp

lieilenderader

221

wird man jedochbedoch jederaeder zeit gern bereit sein minschenwunschenwunschelMinWUnwin derschenutahschenutahfschenUtah vertreterVerschen entgegenenttreter zugegen kommenbommen und sich dadurch ihrahrwohlwollenWohl rurfurwollen fallefaliefaile wo man ihrer stimmenshimmen bedarf zu sichernsicherdsiwenn

cherndas auf kosten anderer lander geschehenge kannschehen aber auch

ausserhalb des senatssenata sind die mormonenmonnonenmontonenMorMonmom einenonenmonen politischepoli undtischewirtschaftlichewirtschaft machtliche und zwar eine infolge ihrergeschlossenheit und disziplin nicht zu unterschatzen sie sindauch ausserhalb utahs in vielenbielen staatenslaaten und territorienterritorianTerritnamentlichnam

oriendenentlich utah benachbartenbenach numerischnumbarten starkerisch ihre stimmenstiinmenshimmen

sind auch dort den politikernPoliti wertvollwertkern darausbarausvoll erklarterklaerkhartarkla sichdab die mormonenMor entgegenentmonen dergegen allgemeinen volkstimmungwiederholt in bundesparlement ftirsprecherrsprecher in nichtmormonischenmormon abgeordnetenischen gefundengemundenge habenfunden denen es umurnurmumm dieerhaltung der mormon ischen wahlstimmenWahls zutimmen tun war und dabmanche gegen sie gerichtetegerich gesetzgeberischetete massregeinmassregelnMassre zugeingelnfall gekommen sind

ich glaube nicht dab deutschland veranlassung hat derinnernfinnern amerikanischen politikholitik zu liebe den mormonenMor irgendirgensmonenwelche konzessionen zu machen fairfiir uns sind mormonenmissionarebonare in hochstenchstenhochsteincastenhoch gradesten undesireableundesireable

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mormonischen

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unterscha

the mormons in wilhelmine germany 187019141870

making

1914

a place for an unwanted religionin a changing german society

michael mitchell

madegreeMA aprilDegree 1994

ABSTRACT

between 1853 and 1914 the kingdom of prussia and thechurch of jesus christ of latterdaylatter saintsday the mormonscormonsMordisagreed

monsover the issue of mormon missionaries proselyting in

prussia in 1853 royal magistrates banished all mormon mi-ssionaries from the kingdom for advocating emigration A newchurch policy of preaching without seeking for official per-mission in addition to an improved relationship between themormons in utah and the united states government after themanifesto of 1890 led to an increase in missionaries sent togermany including prussia by 1900 mormon success alarmedthe prussian protestant clergy and a few prussian governors aswell the governor near the russian border banished mormonmissionaries as undesirable foreigners in response to anappeal by the united states embassy the prussian interiorminister decided in december 1902 that the mormons posed athreat to the public morality of prussia he issued a newbanishment decree in 1903 despite this decree and increasedscrutiny by local police officials mormons continued to workin prussia enjoying limited success until world war I1 put ahiatus on american mormon missionary work in europe

COMMITTEE APPROVAL ttlAMLcommittee chair

66 0 4rodney D bisnackbisnackvrduf committeecomm membertteeatee

M w1endallkenuallwbendall brown department chairman

D ugia F0 lerier

W

sionaries

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